LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 






?lielf. 



f _B H S 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 






r 



THE 



Burial of the Dead. 



A PASTOR'S COMPLETE HAND-BOOK FOR 

FUNERAL SERVLCES, 

AND FOR THE CONSOLATLON AND COMFORT 

OF THE AFFLLCTED. 



7 



Rev. GEORGE DUFFIELD, D.D., 



Rev. SAMUEL W. DUFFIELD. 




NEW YORK: 

FUNK & WAGNALLS, Publishers, 

\^ AND 12 Dey Street. 

1S82. 

Copyright, 1882, by Funk A Wagnalls. 



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'' If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be 
a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good 
doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained." — i Tim, iv. : 6. 



Thb Library 
OF Congress 

WASHINGTON 



CONTENTS. 



I. 

SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 

I. — I. A Salutation 3 

2. A Word of CoJiifort 3 

3. The Brevity of Life — a Scriptural Prayer 4 

II. — For a Child (1-3) 5 

III. — For Young People (1-4) 9 

IV. — For Christian Persons (1-5) 15 

V. — General Services (1-9) 23 

VI. — Scripture Selections (1-9) 57 

VII. — The Service of the Protestant Episcopal Church 49 

n. 

WHAT IS DEATH? 

I. — The Execution of a Sentence 61 

11. — The Dissolution of a Union 61 

III. — An End.. 1 62 

IV. — A Beginning , 62 

V. — The Seed-Time of a Future Harvest 62 

VI. — The Last Enemy 63 

VII. — Sin, the Procuring Cause 63 

VIII. — Final Causes of Death 63 . 

IX. — The Ordering of the Lord. . . 64 



IV CONTENTS. 

X. — God the Author of it 64 

XI. — Its Leading Characteristics 64 

1. It is Universal 64 

2. // is Inevitable 65 

3. It is Impartial 65 

4. It is Sure 65 

5. Its Time Uncertain to Man 66 

6. But Ce7'taijt with God 66 

7. Without Order 66 

8. Near 66 

9. Often Unexpected 67 

10. Ever Approaching 67 

11. To be Kept in View 67 

XII. — Death, how Described 67 

XIII. — Terminates our Probation 69 

XIV. — To BE Prepared for, Temporally 69 

XV. — To BE Prepared for Spiritually 70 

XVI. — To BE Prepared, one must Believe on Christ 70 

XVII. — Fear of Death ; its Causes and Cure 71 

XVIII. — Indications of Actual Death 73 

XIX. — Departure of the Soul 74 

XX. — The Death of the Righteous 75 

XXI. — The Death op the Wicked 76 

XXIL — Provision for Passing the Dark River 76 

XXIII. — Timely Warning to be Given 77 

XXIV. — Brief Words for the Dying 77 

XXV. — The Body in the Custody of Angels 80 

XXVI. — The Intermediate State 80 

XXVII. — Grief Finding Utterance Si 

1. Lamentation 81 

2. Chastening S3 

3. Exhortation . 84 

4. Consolation 85 



CONTENTS. V 

5. Resignation 87 

6. P^'ecious Promises 88 

7. Syjnpathy 89 

8. Sorrow ; when Excessive 90 

XXVIII. — Advice to the Bereaved 91 

XXIX. — Positive Signs of Death 92 

XXX. — The Law of Burial 94 

III. 

THE FUNERAL. 

I. — Dr. Pond on the Duties of the Clergyman ... 97 

II. — Preparation for Burial 99 

III. — Ministers of Christ to be Sent for 100 

IV. — The First Funeral no 

V. — The Burial of Rachel loi 

VI. — The Burial of Jesus 102 

VII. ^Deprivation of Burial a Calamity 103 

VIII. — Burial among Primitive Christians 104 

IX. — Cremation . . . , 104 

X. — Obituaries, Inscriptions, and Epitaphs 105 

IV. 

HINTS FOR SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 

I. — Death in Infancy 109 

II. — In Early Life 113 

III. — In the Family 116 

IV. — In the Church 121 

1. Ministers I2i 

2. Members 125 

3. General 130 



VI COXl'EXTS. 

V. — In the State , 131 

1. A Ruler , 131 

2. A Public Man 132 

VI. — Miscellaneous Topics and Hints 133 

VII. — Peculiar and Special Cases 136 

1. Suicide 136 

2. A " Fallen WomaiH' 137 

3. Long Sickness and Pain 139 

4. Casualties 139 

5. Sudden Death 141 

6. Cases of Great Affliction 142 

7. Death in Child-Bed. 142 

8. A Sailor ... 142 

9. A Rich Man 143 

10. A Poor Man 143 

11. A Repentant Criminal 143 

12. A Careless Persoii 143 

13. A Witty Man ... 144 

14. A Fearsome Death 144 

15. A " Sporting Mail' 144 

16. A Ti??te of Pestilence 144 

VIII. — The Burial of our Lord 144 

IX. — The Resurrection in Christ's own Words 147 

X. — Heaven 148 

XI. — At the Grave (Committal Services) 149 

XII. — Benediction 150 



INTRODUCTORY. 

This little book grows out of the experience 
of four generations, of which the last three have 
so overlapped as to be, practically, one long pas- 
torate of nearly four-score years. These texts, 
topics, hints, and arrangements of Scripture 
have taken, in our work, the place of other fune- 
ral forms. For, after a thorough examination of 
all the published manuals which are accessible to 
American clergymen, w^e found so much that was 
incoherent, or abrupt, or unsuitable, that we were 
driven directly back to the Word of God itself. 

We have aimed to supply a practical want in a 
practical way. It will be seen that we have en- 
deavored to make a convenient volume for the 
pocket ; whose Services will be easily read in a 
darkened room ; whose Topics and Texts may be 
an instant help in any emergency ; and whose 
discussion of the important theme w^hich has pro- 



viii INTRODUCTORY, 

duced it, will lead to hopefulness and comfort in 
the valley of the shadow of Death. 

May it be as the '' hyssop that springeth out 
of the wair' — a living thing from the sepulchre 
to sprinkle cleansing upon the customs of our 
grief. 

George Duffield. 

Samuel W. Duffield. 
March, 1882. 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 



" But for thee, O Saviour, the grave-stone, the earth, the 
coffin, are no bounders of thy dear respects ; even after death 
and burial and corruption, thou art graciously aifected to 
those thou lovest." — Bp. Hall: ''Lazarus Dead" 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 



I. 

(i) A Salutatio7i, Ps. xx. 

The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble ; the 
name of the God of Jacob defend thee : send 
thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen 
thee out of Zion. 

(2) A Word of Comfort, Ps. xxiii. 

The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want. 
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : he 
leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth 
my soul : he leadeth me in the paths of right- 
eousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I 
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 
r will fear no evil : for thou art with me ; thy 
rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou pre- 
parest a table before me in the presence of mine 
enemies : thou anointest my head with oil ; my 
cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy 
shall follow me all the days of my life : and I will 
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 



4 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

(3) The Brevity of Life. (A Scriptural prayer.) 
Lord, make me to know mine end, and the 
measure of my days, what it is, that I may know 
how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days 
as a handbreadth and mine age is as nothing be- 
fore thee. All our days are passed away in thy 
wrath ; we spend our years as a tale that is told. 
The days of our years are three-score years and 
ten ; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore 
years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow ; 
for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. We are 
strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all 
our fathers ; our days on the earth are as a 
shadow, and there is none abiding. Lord, what is 
man that thou takest knowledge of him ? or the 
son of man, that thou makest account of him .^ 
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, 
and art acquainted with all my ways. When I 
awake I am still with thee. Cause me to hear 
thy loving kindness in the morning, for in thee do 
I trust : cause me to know the way wherein I 
should walk ; for I lift up my soul unto thee. 
So teach us to number our days that we may ap- 
ply our hearts unto wisdom. And let the beauty of 
the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou 
the work of our hands upon us ; yea, the work of 
our hands establish thou it. 

Blessed be the LORD forevermore. Amen, 
and Amen. 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 



II. FOR A CHILD. 

(i) Matt, xviii.-xix. 

And Jesus called a little child unto him, and 
set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I 
say unto you, Except ye be converted, and be- 
come as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven. 

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as 
this little child, the same is greatest in the king- 
dom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one 
such little child in my name receiveth me. 

Take heed that ye despise not one of these lit- 
tle ones ; for I sa}^ unto you, that in heaven their 
angels do always behold the face of my Father 
which is in heaven. For the Son of man is come 
to save that which was lost. Even so it is not 
the will of your Father which is in heaven, that 
one of these little ones should perish. 

Then were there brought unto him little chil- 
dren, that he should put his hands on them, and 
pray : and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus 
said. Suffer little children, and forbid them not, 
to come unto me ; for of such is the kingdom of 
heaven. And he laid his hands on them, and 
departed thence. 

(2) 2. Sam. xii. 

And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's 



6 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

wife bare unto David, and it was very sick. 
David therefore besought God for the child ; and 
David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon> 
the earth. And the elders of his house arose, and 
went to him, to raise him up from the earth : but 
he would not, neither did he eat bread with 
them. And it came to pass on the seventh day, 
that the child died. And the servants of David 
feared to tell him that the child was dead : for 
they said. Behold, while the child was yet alive, 
we spake unto him, and he would not hearken un- 
to our voice : how will he then vex himself, if we 
tell him that the child is dead ? 

But when. David saw that his servants whis- 
pered, David perceived that the child was dead : 
therefore David said unto his servants. Is the 
child dead ? And they said, He is dead. Then 
David arose from the earth, and washed, and 
anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and 
came into the house of the Lord, and worship- 
ped : then he came to his own house ; and when 
he required, they set bread before him, and he 
did eat. 

Then said his servants unto him, What thing is 
this that thou hast done ? thou didst fast and 
weep for the child, while it was alive ; but when 
the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. 

And he said. While the child was yet alive, I 
fasted and wept : fori said, Who can tell whether 
God will be gracious to me, that the child may 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES.- 7 

live ? But now he is dead, wherefore should I 
fast ? can I bring him back again ? I shall go to 
him, but he shall not return to me. 

(3) 2 Kings iv. 18-37. 

And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, 
that he went out to his father to the reapers. 
And he said unto his father, My head, my head ! 
And he said to a lad. Carry him to his mother. 
And when he had taken him, and brought him 
to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and 
then died. And she went up, and laid him on the 
bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon 
him, and went out. 

And she called unto her -husband, and said, 
Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and 
one of the asses, that I may run to the man of 
God, and come again. And he said. Wherefore 
wilt thou go to him to-day ? it is neither new 
moon, nor sabbath. And she said. It shall be 
well. 

Then she saddled an ass, and said to her ser- 
vant, Drive, and go forward ; slack not thy riding 
for me, except I bid thee. So she went and came 
unto the man of God to mount Carmel. 

And it came to pass, when the man of God saw 
her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, 
Behold, yonder is that Shunammite : run now, I 
pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her. Is it 
well with thee ? it is well w^'th thv husband ? is it 



8 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

well with the child ? And she answered, It is 
well. 

And when she came to the man of God to 
the hill, she caught him by the feet : but Gehazi 
came near to thrust her away. And the man of 
God said, Let her alone ; for her soul is vexed 
w^ithin her : and the Lord hath hid it from me, 
and hath not told me. Then she said, Did I de- 
sire a son of my lord ? did I not say, Do not de- 
ceive me? 

Then he said to Gehazi. Gird up thy loins, 
and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy 
way : if thou meet any man, salute him not ; .and 
if any salute thee, answer him not again : and lay 
my staff upon the' face of the child. And the 
mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth, and 
as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he 
arose, and followed her. 

And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid 
the staff upon the face of the child ; but there 
was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he 
went again to meet him, and told him, saying. 
The child is not awaked. 

And when Elisha w^as come into the house, be- 
hold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. 
He went in therefore, and shut the door upon 
them twain, and prayed unto the Lord. And he 
went up, and lay upon the child, and put his 
mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his 
eyes, and his hands upon his hands : and he 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 9 

stretched himself upon the child ; and the flesh 
of the child waxed warm. Then he returned, and 
walked in the house to and fro ; and went up, 
and stretched himself upon him : and the child 
sneezed seven times, and the child opened his 
eyes. 

And he called Gehazi, and said. Call this Shu- 
namite. So he called her. And when she was 
come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. 
Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed 
herself to the ground, and took up her son, and 
went out. 

III. FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 

(i) John xi. 

After that he saith unto them, Our friend 
Lazarus sleepeth ; but I go, that I may awake 
him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, 
if he sleep, he shall do w^ell. Howbeit Jesus 
spake of his death : but they thought that he 
had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then 
said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 
And I am glad for your sakes that I was not 
there, to the intent ye may believe ; nevertheless 
let us go unto him. 

Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, 
unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we 
may die with him. 

And many of the Jews came to Martha and 



lO THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. 
Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was 
coming, went and met him : but Mary sat still in 
the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, 
if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 
But T know, that even now, w^hatsoever thou wilt 
ask of God, God w^ill give it thee. Jesus saith 
unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha 
saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in 
the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto 
her, I am the resurrection and the life : he that 
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall 
he live : and whosoever liveth and believeth in 
me shall never die. 

Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, 
and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying un- 
to him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother 
had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her 
weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came 
with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was 
troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him ? 
They say unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus 
wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved 
him I And some of them said, Could not this 
man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have 
caused that even this man should not have died ? 

Jesus therefore again groaning in himself Com- 
eth to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay 
upon it. Jesus said. Take ye away the stone. 
Then they took away the stone from the place 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES, II 

where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up 
his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou 
hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest 
me always : but because of the people w^hich 
stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou 
hast sent me. 

And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a 
loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that 
was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with 
graveclothes ; and4iis face was bound about with 
a napkin. Jesus saith unto them. Loose him, and 
let him go. Then many of the Jews which came 
to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus 
did, believed on him. 

(2) Ecc. xii. 

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy 
youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years 
draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleas- 
ure in them ; while the sun, or the light, or the 
moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the 
clouds return after the rain : in the day when the 
keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong 
men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease 
because they are few, and those that look out of 
the windows be darkened. 

And the doors shall be shut in the streets, 
when the sound of the grinding is low, and he 
shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the 
daughters of music shall be brought low; also 



12 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

when they shall be afraid of that which is high, 
and fears shall be in the way, and the almond 
tree shall flourish, and the .grass-hopper shall be 
a burden, and desire shall fail : because man 
goeth to his long home, and the mourners go 
about the streets : or ever the silver cord be 
loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the 
pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel 
broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust re- 
turn to the earth as it was : and the spirit shall 
return unto God who gave it. 

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : 
Fear God, and keep his commandments : for this 
is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring 
every work into judgment, with every secret 
thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. 

(3) Matt. XXV. 

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened 
unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and 
went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of 
them were wise, and five were foolish. They that 
were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil 
with them : but the wise took oil in their vessels 
with their lamps. 

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slum- 
bered and slept. And at midnight there was a 
cry made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh ; go ye 
out to meet him. 

Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 13 

lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give 
us of your oil ; for our lamps are gone out. But 
the wise answered, saying, Not so ; lest there be 
not enough for us and you : but go ye rather to 
them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while 
they went to buy, the bridegroom came ; and they 
that were ready went in with him to the mar- 
riage : and the door was shut. 

Afterward came also the other virgins, saying. 
Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and 
said. Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 

Watch therefore ; for ye know neither the day 
nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. 

(4) Mark v. 

And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of 
the synagogue, Jairus by name ; and when he saw 
him, he fell at his feet, and besought him great- 
ly, saying. My little daughter lieth at the point 
of death : I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on 
her, that she may be healed ; and she shall live. 
And Jesus went with him ; and much people fol- 
lowed him, and thronged him. 

And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself 
that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about 
in the press, and said. Who touched my clothes ? 
And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the 
multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou. Who 
touched me ? And he looked round about to see 
her that had done this thing. 



1 4 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

But the woman feaiing and trembling, knowing 
what was done in her, came and fell down before 
him, and told him all the truth. And he said 
unto her. Daughter, thy faith hath made thee 
whole ; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. 
While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of 
the synagogue's house certain which said. Thy 
daughter is dead ; why troublest thou the Master 
any further ? 

As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spo- 
ken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue. Be 
not afraid, only believe. And he suffered no man 
to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John, 
the brother of James. And he cometh to the 
house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the 
tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. 
And when he was come in, he saith unto them, 
Why make ye this ado, and weep ? the damsel is 
not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him 
to scorn. 

But when he had put them all out, he taketh 
the father and mother of the damsel, and them 
that were with him, and entereth in where the 
damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by 
the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi ; which 
is, being interpreted, Damsel, (I say unto thee), 
arise. 

And straightway the damsel arose, and walked ; 
for she was of the age of twelve years. And they 
were astonished with a great astonishment. And 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 15 

he charged them straitly that no man should 
know it ; and commanded that something should 
be given her to eat. 



IV. FOR CHRISTIAN PERSONS. 

(i) I Pet. i. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant 
mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope 
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 
to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, 
and that fadeth not aw^ay, reserved in heaven for 
you. Who are kept by the power of God through 
faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the 
last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though 
now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness 
through manifold temptations : that the trial of 
your faith, being much more precious than of gold 
that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might 
be found unto praise and honour and glory at the 
appearing of Jesus Christ : whom having not 
seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye see him 
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable 
and full of glory : receiving the end of your faith 
even the salvation of your souls. 

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be 
sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is 



l6 7'HE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus 
Christ ; as obedient children; not fashioning your- 
selves according to the former lusts in your igno- 
rance : but as he which hath called you is holy, so 
be ye holy in all manner of conversation ; because 
it is written, Be ye holy ; for I am holy. 

And if ye call on the Father, who without re- 
spect of persons judgeth according to every man's 
work, pass the time of your sojourning here in 
fear : forasmuch as ye know that ye were not 
redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and 
gold, from your vain conversation received by 
tradition from your fathers ; but with the ^pre- 
cious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blem- 
ish and without spot : who verily was foreordained 
before the foundation of the world, but v^^as 
manifest in these last times for you, who by 
him do believe in God, that raised him up from 
the dead, and gave him glory ; that your faith and 
hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified 
your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit 
unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye 
love one another with a pure heart fervently : be- 
ing born again, not of corruptible seed, but of in- 
corruptible, by the word of God, w^hich liveth and 
abideth forever. 

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of 
man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, 
and the flower thereof falleth away : but the 
word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 17 

the word which by the gospel is preached unto 
you. 

(2) John xiv. 

Let not your heart be t?roubled : ye beHeve in 
God, believe also in me. In my Father's house 
are many mansions : if it were not so, I would 
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will 
come again, and receive you unto myself ; that 
where I am, there ye may be also. And whither 
I go ye know, and the way ye know. 

Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not 
whither thou goest ; and how can we know the 
way ? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the 
truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the 
Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye 
should have known my Father ako : and from 
henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 

Philip saith unto him. Lord, shew us the 
Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, 
Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast 
thou not known me, Philip ? he that hath seen 
me hath seen the Father ; and how sayest thou 
then. Show us the Father ? Believest thou not 
that I am in the Father, and the Father in m.e ? 
the words that I speak unto you I speak not of 
myself : but the Father that dwelleth in me, he 
doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the 
Father, and the Father in me : or else believe 



l8 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

me for the very works' sake. Veril}^, verily, I 
say unto you. He that believeth on me, the works 
that I do shall he do also ; and greater works than 
these shall he do ; because I go unto my Father. 
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that 
will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the 
Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will 
do it. 

If ye love me, keep my commandments. And 
I will pray the Father, and he shall give you 
another Comforter, that he may abide with you 
forever ; even the Spirit of truth ; whom the 
w^orld cannot receive, because it seeth him not, 
neither knoweth him : but ye know himi ; for he 
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will 
not leave you comfortless : I will come to you. 

(3) I Cor, XV. 

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the 
gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye 
have received, and wherein ye stand ; by which 
also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I 
preached unto you, unless ye have believed in 
vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that 
which I also received, how that Christ died for 
our sins according to the Scriptures : and that he 
was buried, and that he rose again the third day 
according to the Scriptures ; 

But some man will say. How are the dead raised 
up ? and with what body do they come ? Thou 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. . 19 

fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, 
except it die : and that which thou sowest, thou 
sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, 
it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain : 
but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, 
and to every seed his own body. 

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is 
sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption : it 
is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory : it is 
sown in weakness, it is raised in power : it is sown 
a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. 
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual 
body. 

As is the earthy, such are they also that are 
earthy : and as is the heavenly, such are they also 
that are heavenly. And as we have borne the 
image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image 
of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that 
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of 
God ; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 

Behold, I show you a mystery : We shall not 
all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a mo- 
ment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last 
trump : for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead 
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be 
changed. For this corruptible must put on in- 
corruption, and this mortal must put on immor- 
tality. So when this corruptible shall have put 
on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on 
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the 



20 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in 
victory. 

death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is 
thy victory ? The sting of death is sin ; and the 
strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to 
God, which giveth us the victory through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stead- 
fast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work 
of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your 
labour is not in vain in the Lord. 

(4) I Thess. iv. and v. 

1 would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, 
concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow 
not, even as others which have no hope. For if 
we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even 
so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring 

' with him. For this we say unto you by the word 
of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain 
unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent 
them which are asleep. 

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven 
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and 
with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ 
shall rise first : then we which are alive and re- 
main, shall be caught up together with them in 
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so 
shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore com- 
fort one another with these words. 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 2i 

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that 
day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all 
the children of light, and the children of the day: 
we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 

But let us, who are of the day, be sober, put- 
ting on the breastplate of faith and love ; and for 
a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath 
not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation 
by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, 
whether we wake or sleep, we should live together 
with him. 

(5) From the Book of Revelation, 

And one of the elders answered, saying unto 
me. What are these which are arrayed in white 
robes ? and whence came they ? And I said unto 
him. Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, 
These are they which came out of great tribula- 
tion, and have washed their robes, and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb. There- 
fore are they before the throne of God, and 
serve him day and night in his temple : and he 
that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among 
them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst 
any more ; neither shall the sun light on them, 
nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the 
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall 
lead them unto living fountains of waters : and 
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. 

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the 



2 2 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty and 
four thousand, having his Father's name written' 
in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from 
heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the 
voice of a great thunder : and I heard the voice 
of harpers harping with their harps : and they 
sung as it were a new song before the throne, and 
before the four beasts, and the elders : and no 
man could learn that song but the hundred and 
forty and four thousand, which were redeemed 
from the earth. 

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto 
me, Write, blessed are the dead which die in the 
Lord from henceforth : yea, saith the Spirit, 
that they may rest from their labors ; and their 
works do follow them. And I saw as it were a 
sea of glass mingled with fire : and them that had 
gotten the victory over the beast, and over his 
image, and over his mark, and over the number 
of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the 
harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses 
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, 
saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord 
God Almighty ; just and true are thy ways, thou 
King of saints. 

And a voice came out of the throne, saying. 
Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that 
fear him, both small and great. And I heard as 
it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the 
voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 23 

thunderings, saying, Alleluia : for the Lord God 
omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, 
and give honour to him : for the marriage of the 
Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself 
ready. And to her was granted that she should 
be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white : for the 
fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he 
saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are 
called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. 
And he saith unto me. These are the true sayings 
of God. 



V. GENERAL SERVICES. 

(i) Ps. xc. 

Lord, thou has been our dwellingplace in all 
generations. Before the mountains were brought 
forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and 
the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, 
thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction; 
and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a 
thousand years, in thy sight, are but as yesterday 
when it is past, and as a watch in the night. 

Thou carriest them away as with a flood ; they 
are as a sleep : in the morning they are like grass 
which growx^th up. In the morning it flourisheth, 
and groweth up ; in the evening it is cut down, 
and withereth. For we are consumed by thine 
anger, and by thy w^rath are we troubled. Thou 



24 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins 
in the light of thy countenance. 

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath : 
we spend our years as a tale that is told. The 
days of our years are threescore years and ten ; 
and if by reason of strength they be fourscore 
years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow ; for 
it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who know- 
eth the power of thine anger ? even according to 
thy fear, so is thy wrath. So teach us to number 
our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wis- 
dom. 

Return, O Lord, how long ? and let it repent 
thee concerning thy servants. O satisfy us early 
with thy mercy ; that we may rejoice and be glad 
all our days. Make us glad according to the days 
wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years 
wherein we have seen. evil. Let thy work appear 
unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their chil- 
dren. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be 
upon us : and establish thou the work of our 
hands upon us ; yea, the work of our hands estab- 
lish thou it. 

(2) 2 Cor. iv. and v. 

For w^e preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus 
the Lord ; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' 
sake. For God, w^ho commanded the light to 
shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, 
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICE'^. 25 

God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have 
this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excel- 
lency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 

We are troubled on every side, yet not dis- 
tressed ; we are perplexed, but not in despair ; 
persecuted, but not forsaken ; cast down, but not 
destroyed ; always bearing about in the body the 
dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Je- 
sus might be made manifest in our body. 

For which cause w^e faint not ; but though our 
outward man perish, yet the inw^ard man is re- 
newed day by day. For our light affliction, which 
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory ; while we 
look not at the things which are seen, but at the 
things which are not seen : for the things w^hich 
are seen are temporal ; but the things which are 
not seen are eternal. 

For we know that, if our earthly house of this 
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of 
God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens. For in this \yq groan earnestly, desiring 
to be clothed upon with our house which is from 
heaven : if so be that being clothed we shall not 
be found naked. For we that are in this taber- 
nacle do groan, being burdened :.not for that we 
would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mor- 
tality might be swallowed up of life. 

Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame 
thing is God, w^ho also hath given unto us the 



26 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

earnest of the Spirit. Therefqre we are always 
confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in 
the body, we are absent from the Lord : (for we 
walk by faith, not by sight :) we are confident, I 
say, and willing rather to be absent from the 
body, and to be present with the Lord. Where- 
fore we labour, that, whether present or absent, 
we may be accepted of him. 

For we must all appear before the judgment 
seat of Christ ; that every one may receive the 
things done in his body, according to that he hath 
done, w^iether it be good or bad. 

Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we 
persuade men ; but we are made manifest unto 
God ; and I trust also are made manifest in your 
consciences. 

For the love of Christ constraineth us ; because 
we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were 
all dead : and that he died for all, that they 
which live should not henceforth live unto them- 
selves, but unto him which died for them, and 
rose again. 

(3) I Cor. XV. 

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the 
gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye 
have received, and wherein ye stand ; by which 
also ye are saved, if ye keep in mem.ory what I 
preached unto you, unless ye have believed in 
vain. 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 27 

For I delivered unto you first of all that which 
I also received, how that Christ died for our sins 
according to the Scriptures ; and that he was 
buried, and that he rose again the third day 
according to the Scriptures : and that he was seen 
of Cephas, then of the twelve : after that, he was 
seen of above five hundred brethren at once ; of 
whom the greater part remain unto this present, 
but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was 
seen of James ; then of all the apostles. i\nd 
last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born 
out of due time. For I am the least of the apos- 
tles, that I am not meet to be called an apostle, 
because I persecuted the church of God. But by 
the grace of God I am what I am : and his grace 
which was bestowed upon me was not in vain ; 
but I laboured more abundantly than they all : 
yet not I, but the grace of God which was with 
me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we 
preach, and so ye believed. 

Now if Christ be preached that he rose from 
the dead, how say some among you that there is 
no resurrection of the dead ? But if there be no 
resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen : 
and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching 
vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we 
are found false witnesses of God ; because we 
have testified of God that he raised up Christ : 
whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead 
rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not 



2S THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

Christ raised : and if Christ be not raised, your 
faith is vain ; ye are yet in your sins. Tiien they 
also which are fallen asleep in Christ are per- 
ished. 

(4) I Cor. XV. \Conti7iiLed.^ 

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we 
are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ 
risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of 
them that slept. For since by man came death, 
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all 
be made ahve. But every man in his own order : 
Christ the first-fruits ; afterward they that are 
Christ's at his coming. 

Then cometh the end, when he shall have de- 
livered up the kingdom to God, even the Father ; 
when he shall have put down all rule, and all 
authority and power, For he must reign, till he 
hath put all enemies under his feet. The- last 
enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he 
hath put all things under his feet. 

But when he saith. All things are put under 
him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did 
put all things under him. And when all things 
shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son 
also himself be subject unto him that put all 
things under him, that God may be all in all. 
Else what shall they do v\4iich are baptized for 
the dead, if the dead rise not at all ? why are they 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 29 

then baptized for the dead ? And why stand we 
in jeopardy every hour ? 

I protest by your rejoicing which I have in 
Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If after the 
manner of men I have fought with beasts at 
Ephesus, w4iat advantageth it me, if the dead rise 
not ? let us eat and drink ; for to-morrow we die. 

Be not deceived : evil communications corrupt 
good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin 
not ; for some have not the know^ledge of God : 
I speak this to your shame. 

(5) Job iv.-v. 

In thoughts from the visions of the night, when 
deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, 
and trembling, which made all my bones to 
shake. 

Then a spirit passed before my face ; the 
hair of my flesh stood up : it stood still, but I 
could not discern the form thereof : an image 
was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I 
heard a voice, saying, Shall mortal man be more 
just than God ? shall a man be more pure than 
his Maker ? Behold, he put no trust in his ser- 
vants ; and his angels he charged with folly : how 
much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, 
whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed 
before the moth ? 

Although affliction cometh not forth of the 
dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the 



30 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

ground * yet man is borri unto trouble, as the 
sparks fly upward. I would seek unto God, and 
unto God would I commit my cause : 

Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth : 
therefore despise not thou the chastening of the 
Almighty : for he maketh sore, and bindeth up : 
he woundeth, and his hands make whole. He shall 
deliv^er thee in six troubles : yea, in seven there 
shall no evil touch thee. In famine he shall re- 
deem thee from death : and in war from the 
power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the 
scourge of the tongue : neither shalt thou be 
afraid of destruction when it cometh. At de- 
struction and famine thou shalt laugh : neither 
shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. 

For thou shalt be in league with the stones of 
the field : and the beasts of the field shall be at 
peace with thee. And thou shalt know^ that thy 
tabernacle shall be in peace ; and thou shalt visit 
thy habitation, and shalt not sin. Thou shalt 
know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine 
offspring as the grass of the earth. Thou shalt 
come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of 
corn cometh in in his season. 

(6) Ps. xlix. 

Hear this, all ye people ; give ear, all ye inhab- 
itants of the world ; both low and high, rich and 
poor, together. i\Iy mouth shall speak of wis- 
dom ; and the meditation of mv heart shall be of 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 3 1 

understanding. I will incline mine ear to a para- 
ble : I will open my dark saying upon the harp. 

Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, 
when the kiiquity of my heels shall compass me 
about? They that trust in their w^ealth, and 
boast themselves in the multitude of their riches ; 
none of them can by any means redeem his 
brother, nor give to God a ransom for him : (for 
the redemption of their soul is precious, and it 
ceaseth forever :) that he should still live for- 
ever, and not see corruption. 

For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the 
fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their 
wealth to others. Their inward thought is, that 
their houses shall continue forever, and their 
dwelling-places to all generations ; they call their 
lands after their own names. Nevertheless man 
being in honour abideth not : he is like the beasts 
that perish. This their way is their folly : yet 
their posterity approve their sayings. 

Like sheep they are laid in the grave ; death 
shall feed on them ; and the upright shall have 
dominion over them in the morning; and their 
beauty shall consume in the grave from their 
dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the 
power of the grave : for he shall receive me. 

Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when 
the glory of his house is increased ; for when he 
dieth he shall carry nothing away : his glory shall 
not descend after him. Though while he lived 



32 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

he blessed his soul, (^and men will praise thee, 
when thou doest well to thyself,) he shall go to the 
generation of his fathers ; they shall never see light. 
Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, 
is like the beasts that perish. 

(7) Job xiv. 

Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and 
full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, 
and is cut down : he fleeth also as a shadow, and 
continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes 
upon such a one, and bringest me into judgment 
with thee ? Who can bring a clean thing out of 
an unclean ? not one. Seeing his days are deter- 
mined, the number of his months are with thee, 
thou .hast appointed his bounds that he cannot 
pass ; turn from him, that he may rest, till he 
shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day. 

For there is hope ol a tree, if it be cut down, 
that it will sprout again, and that the tender 
branch thereof will not cease. Though the root 
thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock 
thereof die in the ground ; yet through the scent 
of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like 
a plant. But man dieth, and wasteth away : yea, 
man giveth up the ghost, and where is he ? As 
the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decay- 
eth and drieth up ; so man lieth down, and riseth 
not : till the heavens be no more, they shall not 
awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 33 

Oh that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, 
that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy 
wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a 
set time, and remember me ! 

If a man die, shall he live again ? all the days of 
my appointed time will I wait, till my change 
come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee : 
thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine 
hands. For now thou numberest my steps : dost 
thou not w^atch over my sin ? My transgression 
is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine 
iniquity. 

And surely the mountain falling cometh to 
nought, and the rock is removed out of his place. 
The waters wear the stones : thou washest avv^ay 
the things which grow out of the dust of the 
earth ; and thou destroyest the hope of man. 
Thou prevailest forever against him, and he pass- 
eth : thou changest his countenance, and sendest 
him aw^ay. 

(8) From Ecclesiastes, 

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, 
king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the 
Preacher, vanity of vanities ; all is vanity. What 
profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh 
under the sun ? One generation passeth away, 
and another generation cometh : but the earth 
abideth forever. The sun also ariseth, and the 
sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where 



34 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

he arose. The wind goeth toward the south, and 
turneth about unto the north ; it whirleth about 
continually, and the wind returneth again accord- 
ing to his circuits. All the rivers run into the 
sea ; yet the sea is not full : unto the place from 
jvhence the rivers come, thither they return again. 
All things are full of labour ; man cannot utter it : 
the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear 
filled with hearing. The thing that hath been, it 
is that which shall be ; and that which is done is 
that which shall be done : and there is no new 
thing under the sun-. Is there any thing whereof 
it may be said, See, this is new ? It hath been 
already of old time, which was before us. 

I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be 
forever : nothing can be put to it, nor any thing 
taken from it : and God doeth it, that men should 
fear before him. That which hath been is now ; 
and that which is to be hath already been ; and 
God requireth that w4iich is past. I said in mine 
heart, God shall judge the righteous and the 
wicked : for there is a time there for ever}^ pur- 
pose, and for every work. 

All go unto one place ; all are of the dust, and 
all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit 
of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the 
beast that goeth downward to the earth ? 

That which hath been is named already, and it 
is known that it is man : neither may he contend 
with him that is mightier than he. Seeing there 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 35 

be many things that increase vanity, what is man 
the better ? For who knoweth what is good for 
man in this life, all the days of his vain life which 
he spendeth as a shadow ? for who can tell a man 
what shall be after him under the sun ? 

A good name is better than precious ointment; 
and the day of death than the day of one's birth. 
It is better to go to the house of mourning, than 
to go to the house of feasting : for that is the end 
of all men ; and the living will lay it to his heart. 
Sorrow is better than laughter : for by the sad- 
ness of the countenance the heart is made better. 
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourn- 
ing ; but the heart of fools is in the house of 
mirth. 

There is no man that hath power over the spirit 
to retain the spirit ; neither hath he power in the 
day of death : and there is no discharge in that 
war ; neither shall wickedness deliver those that 
are given ta it. 

It is good that thou shouldest take hold of 
this ; yea, also from this withdraw not thine 
hand : for he that feareth God shall cojne forth 
of them all. 

This is an evil among all things that are done 
under the sun, that there is one event unto all : 
yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of 
evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, 
and after that they go to the dead. For to him 
that is joined to all the living there is hope : for 



3^ THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the 
living know that they shall die : but the dead 
know not any thing, neither have they any more 
a reward ; for the memory of them is forgotten. 
Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, 
is now perished : neither have they any more a 
portion forever in any thing that is done under 
the sun. 

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
thy might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor 
knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither 
thou goest. 

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole 
matter : Fear God, and keep his commandments : 
for this is the whole- duty of man. For God shall 
bring every work into judgment, with every se- 
cret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be 
evil. 

(9) Matt. XXV. 

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, 
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he 
sit upon the throne of his glory : and before him 
shall be gathered all nations : and he shall sepa- 
rate them one from another, as a shepherd divi- 
deth his sheep from the goats : and he shall set 
the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the 
left. 

Then shall the King say unto them on his 
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, in- 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 37 

herit the kingdom prepared for you from the foun- 
dation of the world : for I was an hungered, and 
ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me 
drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me in : 
naked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye 
visited me : I Avas in prison, and ye came unto 
me. 

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, 
Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed 
thee ? or thirsty, and gave thee drink ? when 
saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in ? or 
naked, and clothed thee ? or when saw we thee 
sick, or in prison, and came unto thee ? 

And the King shall answer and say unto them, 
Verily I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye have done 
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye 
have done it unto me. 



VI. SCRIPTURE SELECTIONS. 

(i) John xvii. 

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his 
eyes to heav^en, and said. Father, the hour is 
comxC ; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may 
glorify thee : as thoii hast given him power over 
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as 
many as thou hast given him. iVnd this is life 
eternal, that they might know thee the only true 
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I 



38 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

have glorified thee on the earth : I have finished 
the work which thou gavest me to do. And 
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own 
self with the glory which I had with thee before 
the world was.. I have manifested thy name unto 
the men which thou gavest me-6ut of the world : 
thine they were, and thou gavest them me ; and 
they have kept thy word. 

Now they have known that all things whatso- 
ever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have 
given unto them the words which thou gavest 
me ; and they have received them, and have 
known surely that I came out from thee, and 
they have believed that thou didst send me. 

I pray for them : I pray not for the world, but 
for them which thou hast given me ; for they are 
thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are 
mine ; and I am glorified in them. 

And now I am no more in the w6rld, but these 
are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy 
Father, keep through thine own name those 
whom thou hast given me, that they may be 
one, as we are. While I was with them in the 
world, I kept them in thy name : those that thou 
gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, 
but the son of perdition ; that the Scripture 
might be fulfilled. 

And now come I to thee ; and these things I 
speak in the world, that they might have my joy 
fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. ' 39 

word ; and the world hath hated them, because 
they are not of the world, even as I am not of 
the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take 
them out of the world, but that thou shouldest 
keep them from the evil. They are not of the 
world^ even as I am not of the world. Sanctify 
them through thy truth : thy word is truth. As 
thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I 
also sent them into the world. And for their 
sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be 
sanctified through the truth. 

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them 
also which shall believe on me through their 
word ; that they all may be one ; as thou, 
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also 
may be one in us : that the world may believe 
that thou hast sent me. ' And the glory which 
thou gavest me I have given them ; that they 
may be one, even as we are one : I in them, and 
thou in me, that they may be made perfect in 
one ; and that the w^orld may know that thou 
hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast 
loved me. 

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast 
given me, be with me where I am ; that they 
may behold my glory, which thou hast given m.e : 
for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the 
world. 

O righteous Father, the w^orld hath not known 
thee : but I have known thee, and these have 



40 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

known that thou hast sent me. And I have de- 
clared unto them thy name, and will declare it ; 
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may 
be in them, and I in them. 

(2) Heb. xii. 

Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and 
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye 
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with 
sons ; for what son is he whom the father chas- 
teneth not ? But if ye be without chatisement, 
whereof all are partakers, then are ye not sons. 

Furthermore, w^e have had fathers of our flesh 
which corrected us, and we gave them reverence : 
shall v/e not much rather be in subjection unto 
the Father of spirits, and live ? For they verily 
for a few days chastened us after their own pleas- 
ure ; but he for our profit, that w^e might be 
partakers of his holiness. 

Now no chastening for the present seemetli to 
be joyous, but grievous : nevertheless, afterward 
it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness 
unto them which are exercised thereby. Where- 
fore lift up the hands w^iich hang down, and the 
feeble knees ; and make straight paths for your 
feet, lest that w^hich is lame be turned out of the 
way ; but let it rather be healed. 

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, with- 
out which no man shall see the Lord : 

For ye are not come unto the mount that might 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 41 

be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto 
blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the 
sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words ; 
which voice they that heard entreated that the 
word should not be spoken to them any more : 
(for they could not endure that which. was com- 
manded. And if so much as a beast touch the 
mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through 
with a dart : and so terrible was the sight, that 
Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake :) but 
ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city 
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to 
an innumerable company of angels, to the general 
assembly and church of the first-born, which are 
written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, 
and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and 
to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and 
to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better 
things than that of Abel. 

See that ye refuse not him that speaketh : for 
if they escaped not v\^ho refused him that spake 
on earth, much more shall not we escape, if w^e 
turn away from him that speaketh fromi heaven. 

(3) I Thess. iv. 

But I would not have you to be ignorant, 
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that 
ye sorrow not, even as others w^hich have no hope. 
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, 
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God 



42 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

bring with him. For this we say unto you by 
the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and 
remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not 
prevent them which are asleep. 

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven 
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and 
with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ 
shall rise first : then we which are alive and re- 
main shall be caught up together with them in 
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so 
shall we ever be with the Lord. 

Wherefore comfort one another with these 
words. 

(4) Job xxiii. 

Then Job answered and said, Even to-day is 
my complaint bitter : my stroke is heavier than 
my groaning. Oh that I knew where I might find 
him ! that I might come even to his seat ! I 
would order my cause before him, and fill my 
mouth with arguments. I would know the words 
which he would answer me, and understand what 
he would say unto me. 

Will he plead against me with his great power ? 
No ; but he w^ould put strength in me. There the 
righteous might dispute with him ; so should I 
be delivered forever from my judge. 

Behold, I go forward, but he is not there ; and 
backward, but I cannot perceive him : on the. left 
hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 43 

him : he hideth huTiSelf on the right hand, that I 
cannot see him : but he knoweth the way that I 
take : when he hath tried me, I shall come forth 
as gold. 

My foot hath held his steps, his way have I 
kept, and not declined. Neither have I gone 
back from the commandment of his lips ; I have 
esteemed the words of his mouth more than my 
necessary food. But he is in one mind, and who 
can turn him ? and what his soul desireth, even 
that he doeth. For he performeth the thing that 
is appointed for me : and many such things are 
with him. 

Therefore am I troubled at his presence : when 
I consider, I am afraid of him. For God maketh 
my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me : 
-because I was not cut off before the darkness, 
neither hath he covered the darkness from my 
face. 

(5) Ps. xviii. 

I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The 
-Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliv- 
erer ; my God, my strength, in whom I will 
trust ; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, 
and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, 
who is worthy to be praised. 

The sorrows of death compassed me, and the 
-floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sor- 
rows of hell compassed me about : the snares of 



44 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

death prevented me. In my distress I called up- 
on the Lord, and cried unto my God : he heard 
my voice out of his temple, and my cry came be- 
fore him, even into his ears. 

He sent from above, he took me, he drew me 
out of many waters. He delivered me from my 
strong enemyo He brought me forth also into a 
large place ; he delivered me, because he delight- 
ed in me. 

For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have 
not wickedly departed from my God. For all his 
judgments were before me, and I did not put away 
his statutes from me. Therefore hath the Lord 
recompensed me according to my righteousness, 
according to the cleanness of my hands in his eye- 
sight. 

With the merciful thou wilt shew^ thyself merci- 
ful ; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself 
upright ; with the pure thou wilt shew thyself 
pure ; and with the froward thou wilt shew^ thy- 
self froward. For thou wnlt save the afflicted 
people ; but wilt bring down high looks. For 
thou wilt light my candle : the Lord my God will 
enlighten my darkness. 

As for God, his way is perfect : the word of the 
Lord is tried : he is a buckler to all those that 
trust in him. For w^ho is God save the Lord .^ -or 
who is a rock save ©ur God ? 

It is God that girdeth me with strength, and 
maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 45 

like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high 
places. 

Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salva- 
tion : and thy right hand hath holden me up, and 
thy gentleness hath made me great. Thou hast en- 
larged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. 

The Lord liveth ; and blessed be my Rock ; 
and let the God of my salvation be exalted. 

(6) Ps. XX. 

The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble ; the 
name of the God of Jacob defend thee ; send thee 
help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out 
of Zion ; remember all thy offerings, and accept 
thy burnt sacrifice ; grant thee according to thine 
own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel. We will re- 
joice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God 
we will set up our banners : the Lord fulfil all thy 
petitions. 

Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; 
he will hear him from his holy heaven with the 
saving strength of his right hand. 

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses : 
but we will remember the name of the Lord our 
God. They are brought down and fallen : but 
we are risen, and stand upright. 

Save, Lord : let the king hear us when we call. 

(7) Ps. xxxiv. 

I will bless the Lord at all times : his praise 



46 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall 
make her boast in the Lord : the humble shall 
hear thereof, and be glad. 

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt 
his name together. I sought the Lord, and he 
heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. 
They looked unto him, and were lightened : and 
their faces were not ashamed. This poor man 
cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him 
out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord 
encampeth round about them that fear him, and 
delivereth them. 

O taste and see that the Lord is good : blessed 
is the man that trustetli in him. O fear the 
Lord, ye his saints : for there is no w^ant to them 
that fear him. The young lions do lack, and 
suffer hunger : but they that seek the Lord shall 
not want any good thing. Come, ye children, 
hearken unto me : I w^ill teach you the fear of 
the Lord. What man is he that desireth life, and 
loveth many days, that he mxay see good ? Keep 
thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking 
guile. Depart from evil, and do good ; seek 
peace, and pursue it. 

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, 
and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of 
the Lord is against them that do evil, to cutoff 
the remembrance of them from the earth. The 
righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and deliver- 
eth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 47 

nigh unto them that are of a broken heart ; and 
saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. 

Many are the afflictions of the righteous : but 
the Lord dehvereth him out of them all. He 
keepeth all his bones : not one of them is broken. 
Evil shall slay the wicked : and they that hate the 
righteous shall be desolate. 

The Lord redeemeth the soul of his serv^ants : 
and none of them that trust in him shall be deso- 
late. 

(8) Ps. xxxix. 

I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin 
not with my tongue : I will keep my mouth v/ith 
a bridle, while the wicked is before me. 

I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even 
from good ; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart 
was hot within me ; while I was musing the fire 
burned: then spake I with my tongue, Lord, make 
me to know mine end, and the measure of my 
days, what it is ; that I may know how frail I am. 
Behold, thou hast made my days as an hand- 
breadth ; and mine age is as nothing before thee : 
verily every man at his best state is altogether 
vanity. 

Surely every man walketh in a vain shew : 
surely they are disquieted in vain : he heapeth up 
riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. 
And now. Lord, what wait I- for ? my hope is in 
thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions : 



48 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

make me not the reproach of the foolish. I was 
dumb, I opened not my mouth ; because thou 
didst it. Remove thy stroke away from me : I 
am consumed by the blow of thine hand. When 
thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, 
thou makest his beauty to consume away like a 
moth : surely every man is vanity. 

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto 
my cry ; hold not thy peace at my tears : for I 
am a stranger w4th thee, and a sojourner, as all 
my fathers were. O spare me, that 1 may re- 
cover strength, before I go hence, and be no more. 

(9) Ps. Ixix. 

Save me, O God ; for the waters are come in 
unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there 
is no standing : I am come into deep waters, 
where the floods overflov/ me. I am weary of my 
crying : my throat is dried : mine eyes fail while 
I wait for my God. 

O God, thou knowest my foolishness ; and my 
sins are not hid from thee. Let not them that 
wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed 
for miy sake : let not those that seek thee be con- 
founded for my sake, O God of Israel. 

But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, 
in an acceptable time : O God, in the multitude 
of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salva- 
tion. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not 
sink : let me be delivered out of the deep w^aters. 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 49 

Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let 
the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut 
her mouth upon me. 

Hear me, O Lord ; for thy loving kindness is 
good : turn unto me according to the multitude 
of thy tender mercies. And hide not thy face 
from thy servant ; for I am in trouble : hear me 
speedily. Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem 
it ; I am poor and sorrowful : let thy salvation, 
O God, set me up on high. 

I will praise the name of God with a song, and 
will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also 
shall please the Lord better than an ox or bul- 
lock that hath horns and hoofs. The humble 
shall see this, and be glad : and your heart shall 
live that seek God. 

For the Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth 
not his prisoners. 

VIL THE SERVICE OF THE PROTES- 
TANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

The Minister, meeting the Corpse and going before 
it, shall say, 
I am the resurrection and the life, saith the 
Lord : he that believeth in me, though he were 
dead, yet shall he live : and whosoever liveth and 
believeth in me, shall never die. (St. John xi. 
25, 26.) 



50 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he 
shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And 
though after my skin worms destroy this body, 
yet*in my flesh shall I see God -.whom I shall 
see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and 
not another. (Job xix. 25, 26, 27.) 

We brought nothing into this world, and it is 
certain we can carry nothing out^. The Lord 
gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed 
be the Name of the Lord, (i Tim. vi. 7 ; Job i. 

21.) 

Tlien shall be said or sung the following Ant hem ^ 
taken from the ^gth and got h Psalms. 

Lord, let me know my end, and the number of 
my days ; that I may be certified how long I have 
to live. 

Behold, thou hast made my days as it were 
a span long, and mine age is even as nothing in 
respect of thee ; and verily every man living is 
altogether vanity. 

For man w^alketh in a vain shadow, and disqui- 
eteth himself in vain ; he heapeth up riches, and 
cannot tell who shall gather them. 

And now% Lord, what is my hope ? Truly my 
hope is even in thee. 

Deliver me from all mine offences ; and make 
me not a rebuke unto the foolish. 

When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for 
sin, thou makest his beauty to consume away, 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES 51 

like as it were a moth fretting a garment : every 
man therefore is but vanity. 

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and with thine ears 
consider my calling ; hold not thy peace at my 
tears ; 

For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, 
as all my fathers were. 

O spare me a little, that I may recover my 
strength, before I go hence, and be no more seen. 

Lord, thou hast been our refuge, from one 
generation to another. 

Before the mountains were brought forth, or 
ever the earth and the world were made, thou art 
God from everlasting, and world without end. 

Thou turnest man to destruction ; again thou 
sayest, Come again, ye children of men. 

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as 
yesterday ; seeing that is past as a watch in the 
night. 

As soon as thou scatterest them they are even 
as a sleep ; and fade away suddenly like the 
grass. 

In the morning it is green, and groweth up ; but 
in the evening it is cut down, dried up, and with- 
ered. 

For we consume away in thy displeasure ; and 
are afraid at thy wrathful indignation. 

Thou hast set our misdeeds before thee ; and 
our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. 

For when thou art angry, all our days are gone : 



52 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

we bring our years to an end, as it .were a tale 
that is told. 

The days of our age are three-score years and 
ten ; and though men be so strong that they come 
to four-score years, yet is their strength then but 
labor and sorrow ; so soon passeth it away, and 
we are gone. 

So teach us to number our days, that we may 
apply our hearts unto wisdom. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to 
the Holy Ghost ; 

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever 
shall be, world without end. Amen, 



Then shall folloiv the Lesson taken from the i^th 
chapter of \st Corinthians, 

Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become 
the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by 
man came death, by man came also the resur- 
rection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even 
so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every 
man in his own order : Christ the first-fruits ; 
afterward they that are Christ's, at his coming. 
Then cometh the end, when he shall have deliv- 
ered up the kingdom to God, even the Father ; 
when he shall have put down all rule, and all 
authority, and power. For he must reign, till 
he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last 



SCRIPTURAL services: 53 

enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he 
hath put all things under his feet. 

But when he saith, all things are put under him, 
it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put 
all things under him. And when all things shall 
be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also him- 
self be subject unto Him that put all things under 
him, that God may be all in all. Else what shall 
they do which are baptized for the dead, if the 
dead rise not at all ? \Vliy are they then baptized 
for the dead ? and why stand we in jeopardy every 
hour ? I protest by your rejoicing, which I have 
in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If after 
the manner of men I have fought w^ith beasts at 
Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise 
not ? let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. 
Be not deceived : evil communications corrupt 
good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin 
not ; for some have not the knowledge of God. 
I speak this to your shame. 

But some man will say. How are the dead 
raised up ? and with what body do they come ? 
Thou fool ! that which thou sowest is not quick- 
ened, except it die. And that which thou sowest, 
thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare 
grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other 
grain. But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased 
Him, and to every seed his own body. 

All flesh is not the same flesh ; but there is one 
kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts. 



54 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

another of fishes, and another of birds. There 
are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial ; 
but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory 
of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory 
of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and 
another glory of the stars ; for one star differeth 
from another star in glory. 

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is 
sown in corruption ; it is raised in incorruption : it 
is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory : it is 
sown in weakness ; it is raised in power : it is sown 
a natural body ; it is raised a spiritual body. 
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual 
body. And so it is written, The first man Adam 
was made a living soul ; the last Adam was made 
a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first 
which is spiritual, but that which is natural ; and 
afterward that which is spiritual. The first man 
is of the earth, earthy : the second man is the 
Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are 
they also that are earthy : and as is the heavenly, 
such are they also that are heavenly. And as we 
have borne the image of the earthy, .we shall also 
bear the image of the heavenly. 
. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood 
cannot inherit the Kingdom of God ; neither doth 
corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show 
you a mystery : we shall not all sleep, but we 
shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twin- 
kling of an eye, at the last trump : for the trumpet 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 55 

shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorrup- 
tible, and we shall be changed. For this corrup- 
tible must put on incorruption, and this mortal 
must put on immortality. 

So when this corruptible shall have put on in- 
corruption, and this mortal shall have put on 
immortality ; then shall be brought to pass the 
saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in 
victory. O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, 
where is thy victory ? The sting of death is sin ; 
and the strength of sin is the Law. But thanks be 
to God, which giveth us the victory through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved breth- 
ren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abound- 
ing in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye 
know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 

When they come to the G7^ave, ivhile the Corpse is 
made ready to be laid into the earth, shall be 
sung or said, 

Man, that is born of a woman, hath but a short 
time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh 
up, and is cut down, like a flower ; he fleeth as it 
were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay. 

In the midst of life w^e are in death : of whom 
may we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord, 
who for our sins art justly displeased ? 

Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most 

mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, 

. deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death. 



56 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts ; 
shut not thy merciful ears to our prayer ; but 
spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, 
O holy and merciful Saviour, thou most worthy 
Judge eternal ; suffer us not, at our last hour, for 
any pains of death, to fall from thee. 

Then, while the earth shall be cast upon tlie Body 
by some standing by, tlie Minister shall say, 
Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God, in 
his wise providence, to take out of this world the 
soul of our deceased brother, we therefore commit 
his body to the ground ; earth to earth, ashes to 
ashes, dust to dust ; looking for the general resur- 
rection in the last day, and the life of the world 
to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ ; at whose 
second coming in glorious majesty to judge the 
world, the earth and the sea shall give up their 
dead ; and the corruptible bodies of those who 
sleep in him shall be changed, and made like unto 
his own glorious body ; according to the mighty 
working whereby he is able to subdue all things 
unto himself. 

Then shall be said, or sung, 

I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto 
me, Write, From henceforth, blessed are the 
dead who die in the Lord : even so, saith the 
Spirit, for they rest from their labours. (Rev. 
xiv. 13.) 



SCRIPTURAL SERVICES. 57 

Then the Minister shall say the Lord' s Prayer, 

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be 
thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be 
done on earth. As it is in heaven. Give us this 
day our daily bread. And forgive us our tres- 
passes. As we forgive those who trespass against 
us. And lead us not into temptation ; But de- 
liver us from evil. Ameri, 

Theji the Minister shall say one or both of the fol- 
lowing Prayers y at his discretion. 

Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits 
of those who depart hence in the Lord, and with 
w^hom the souls of the faithful, after they are 
delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy 
and felicity ; we give thee hearty thanks for the 
good examples of all those thy servants, who, 
having finished their course in faith, do now rest 
from their labours. And we beseech thee, that 
we, with all those who are departed in the true 
faith of thy holy Name, may have our perfect 
consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in 
thy eternal and everlasting glory ; through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen, 

O merciful God, the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who is the resurrection and the life ; in 
whom whosoever believeth, shall live, though he 
die ; and whosoever liveth, and believeth in him, 
shall not die eternally ; who also hath taught us. 



5 8 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

by his holy Apostle Saint Paul, not to be sorry, 
as men \vithout hope, for those who sleep in him ; 
we humbly beseech thee, O Father, to raise us 
from the death of sin unto the life of righteous- 
ness ; that, when we shall depart this life, we 
may rest in him ; and that, at the general Resur- 
rection in the last day, w^e may be found accept- 
able in thy sight ; and receive that blessing which 
thy well-beloved Son shall then pronounce to all 
who love and fear thee, saying, Come, ye blessed 
children of my Father, receive the kingdom pre- 
pared for you from the beginning of the w^orld. 
Grant this, we beseech thee, O merciful Father, 
through Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Redeem- 
er. Aine?i. 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the 
love of God, and the fello\v^ship of the Holy 
Ghost, be with us all evermore= Amen. 



11. 

WHAT IS DEATH? 



" Birds, beasts, each tree, 

All that hath growth or breath 
Have one large language, Death !" 

Henry Vaugiian: ''The Check,'- 



WHAT IS DEATH ? 

I. The Execution of a Sentence. 

Gen. iii. 19. "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt 
return. ' ' 

*' We speak of Death as coming in the course of nature. 
But in the just and proper sense of the words, this is not 
true. Death does not come in the course of nature. 
Nattire properly ought to mean the state of things as con- 
stituted by God. Man's original state is his natural state. 
It was a state of sinless purity and sinless joy. And in 
that state of things Death had no place. Death is al- 
together out of the true course of nature. It is in the 
course, it is granted, of fallen nature — of nature as sinful 
and guilty. But of any moral nature, that state is the 
most //;?natural possible. In one sense only can it be cor- 
rectly said that the death of man is in the course of nature ; 
namely, that it is in accordance with the moral require- 
ments of the divUie nature, and consequently with the 
eternal and immutable nature aiid fitness of tilings, that 
penalty should follow trespass ; that sin should infer suf- 
fering. In that sense Death is in the course of nature — is 
natural." — Wardlaw. 

II. The Dissolution of a Union. 

Ecc. xii. 7. ''Then shall the dust return to the earth 

as it was : and the spirit shall return to God who gave it. ' ' 

Strictly speaking, the separation of soul and body is the 



62 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

consequence of Death and not the cause of it. The body 
actually moulders down into indistinguishable earth, and 
only through the Holy Spirit can we track the spirit of 
man, on its invisible upward way. 

III. An End. 

Ecc. vii. 2. "' That is the end of all men." 

We live in a variety of relations ; of occupations ; of 
pleasures ; of sufferings ; of possessions ; of privileges ; 
of opportunities. Of all these, and of everything else that 
pertains to earth and to time, Death is the final close. 
Every marriage must, soon or late, leave a widower or a 
widow ; evei;y birth a mourning parent or an orphan child ; 
every growing family bereaved brothers or bereaved sis- 
ters ; every friendship a solitary friend. *'One event hap- 
peneth alike to all." 

IV. A Beginning. 

Heb. ix. 2"]. ''It is appointed unto men once to die, 
but after this the judgment.'' 

'* After this " — an eternal sleep? annihilation? another 
period of probatior^? No J After Death God has ap- 
pointed the Judgment. (Acts xvii. 31.) 

V. TifE Seed-Time of a Future Harvest. 

I Cor. XV. 42-45. ''It is sown in corruption, it is 
raised in incorruption ; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised 
in glory ; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power ; 
it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.'' 

What an interest then attaches to the last moment of 
every man's earthl}^ life ! — to the parting breath on which 
the soul passes away from its mortal tenement ! As Death 
at that solemn moment finds him — believing or not be- 
lieving on the only Saviour, reconciled to God or still 



WHA T IS DBA TH? 63 

alienated from him — pardoned or unpardoned — renewed 
or unrenewed ; so must judgment, so must eternity find 
him — accepted and saved, or cast away and lost ! In either 
case what an End ! — because ivhat a Beginning ! 

VI. The Last Enemy. 

(Cf. I Cor. XV. 2() ; Rev. xxi. 4, etc.) 

" The Christian does not look upon Death and the grave 
with so much of dread and repulsion as did Job : he can 
look upon them not only without fear, but with feelings of 
triumph. But this is not because Death and the grave are 
changed, but because the future is changed — because life 
and immortality are brought to light in the Gospel. 

''The way by which we pass out of the w^orld is still nar- 
row and dark and cold, though our sharpened vision may 
see sweet fields beyond, and our quickened ear may catch 
celestial strains. We should look at Death as it is, as we 
shall find it, that we may know how to rise above it." — 
y. P. Thompson, 

VII. Sin, the Procuring Cause, 

Rom. V. 12. " By one man sin entered into the world, 
and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for 
that all have sinned. 

*' Draw near to this express image of God, ye ignorant and 
disobedient children ! See, in his eyes, how the God of 
thunder and lightning and terror will look at you. Behold, 
you are the prodigal son, and he is the Father, who sees you, 
and has compassion, . . . and says, . . . This my 
son was dead and is alive again. . , ." — Robert Robin^ 
son (1786). 

VIII. Final Causes of Death. 
These are various : 

I. There must be some mode of exchans^ino- worlds. 



64 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

2. And of emptying this world of those whose probatiqn 
is ended, that there may be room for others to follow. 

3. For otherwise the world would have been over popu- 
lated. 4. Besides, Death teaches us great lessons as to 
the evil of sin, the vanity of this life, and the infinite im- 
portance of the life beyond the grave. Time is but the 
title-page, while eternity is the never-ending volume of 
existence. But, whatever may be the final causes of 
Death, its procuring cause is Sin. To evade Sin is to 
evade Death, but ''there is none righteous, no not one.'' 

IX. The Ordering of the Lord. 

Ps. civ. 29. "Thou takest away their breath; they 
die and return to their dust.'' 

Ps. xc. 3. ''Thou turnest man to destruction and 
sayest. Return, ye children of men. 

(Cf. Job xiv. 20 ; XXX. 2^ \ Is. xl. 6, 7 ; Ps. Ixxx. 16, 
etc. ) 

Those, therefore, who teach that " the death of a human 
being is a natural resuh, as much as that of a worm or a 
plant," and affirm that to t^ach otherwise is to "slander 
the Almighty," are not teaching within the Divine Record, 
but directly against it. 

X. God, the Author of It. 

Deut. xxxii. 39. "I, even I, am he, and there is no 
god with me. I kill and I make alive ; I wound and I 
heal : neither is there any that can deliver out of my 
hand. " 

XL Its Leading Characteristics. 
z. // is universal. 



JVHA T IS DEA TH ? 65 

Ecc. ix. 3. '' There is one event unto all. " 
(Cf. Josh, xxiii. 14, etc.) 

Death is never idle. Among the millions of earth 
there fall on the average, one every second, sixty every 
minute, 3600 every hour, 86,400 every day ; one in about 
thirty to thirty-five of the whole population /(fr rt;??;^//;;;. 
Seventy years is the extreme limit ; thirty-five is the ordi- 
nary limit, with few exceptions. 

2. It is ineviiahle. 

Ps. Ixxxix. 48. ''What man is he that liveth and shall 
not see death } "' 

(Cf. Job XXX. 20; Ecc. viii. 8, etc.)^ 

The longest life will come to an end. *' The young may 
die ; the old 7mist die." 

,^ J. // is impai'tial. 

Ecc. ix. 2. "There is one event to the righteous and 
to the wicked. 

Perhaps this was never seen more clearly than when 
the two thieves were crucified, with "Jesus in the midst." 

4. It is sure. 

Job XXX. 23. ''I know that thou wilt bring me to 
death ; to the house appointed for all living. 

'* Ten thousand human beings set forth together on their 
journey. After ten years one third at least have disap- 
peared. At the middle point of the common measure of 
life but half are still upon the road. Fast and faster, as the 
ranks grow thinner, they that remained till now become 
weary and lie down to rise no more. At three-score and 
ten a band of some four hundred yet struggles on. At 
ninety these have been reduced to a handful of thirty 
trembling patriarchs. Year after year they fall in dimin- 
ishing numbers. One lingers, perhaps, a lonely marvel 



66 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

till the century is over. We look again, and the work of 
Death is finished." — Burgess, 

5. lis time uncertain to man. 

Ecc. ix. 12. " For man also knoweth not his time : 
as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds 
that are caught in the snare ; so are the sons of men 
snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon 
them. ' ' 

(Cf. Gen. xxvii. 2 ; Prov. xxvii. i; Jas. iv. 14.) 

** Nothing is so sure as death, and nothing so uncertain 
as the time. I may be too old to live, I can never be too 
young to die ; I will therefore live ever}^ hour, as if I were 
to die the nQyii.'^— Divine Breattiings (i6th century). 

6. But certain ivith God. 

Job xiv. 5. ''His days are determined; the number 
of his months are with thee ; thou hast appointed his 
bounds, that he cannot pass. 

7 . Without order. 

Job x. 20-22. ''Are not my days few . . . be- 
fore I go whence I shall not return ; even to the land of 
darkness and the shadow of death, . . . without any 
order.'' 

There is *'no order" (i) as to age, or (2) as to bodily 
strength or weakness [Job xxi. 24], or (3) as to place, or 
(4) means of death, or (5) manner of death, or (6) as to 
character [Ps. xlix. 10], or (7) circumstances, or (8) feelings 
of men. 

^. Near. 

Ps. xxxix. 5. " Behold, thou hast made my days as an 
handbreadth and mine age is as nothing before thee '' 
(Cf. I Sam. XX. 3 ; Mark xiii. 35.) 



WHA T IS DEA TH ? 67 

g. Often unexpected. 

Isaiah xxviii. 15, 17, 18. ''Because ye have said, \Ye 
have made a covenant with death, . . . the hail 
shall sweep away the refuge of lies . . . and your 
covenant with death shall be disannulled/' 

It is noteworthy that those who are the proudest of their 
physical powers are oftentimes the nearest to the grave. 
This particularly holds true of the middle-aged and old, 
who will frequently, through this feeling, overtax them- 
selves. 

10. Ever approaching. 

Zach. i. 5. '' Your fathers, w^here are they .^'' 

The present is the only visible part of the scroll of the 
generations. Death rolls up the past, as Life unrolls the 
future. 

11. To be kept in vieiv. 

Ecc. ix. 10. ''Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do 
it with thy might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor 
knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. ' ' 

The ancients represented Opportunity as a fair boy, 
standing tip-toe on one foot and stretching his wings to 
be gone. In the grave there is no worJ^, for the hand is 
dust ; there is no device, for the cunning tongue is still ; 
there is no knoivledge, for the brain is dead ; there is no 
wisdom, for the thought has perished. (Cf. Ps. cxlvi. 3, 4.) 

XII. Death is Described as 

Returning to the dust. Gen. iii. 19 ; Ecc. xii. 7. 

Gathering to our people. Gen. xlix. '^'^. 

A sleep. Deut. xxxi. 16 ; Ps. xiii. 3. 

A harvesting. Job v. 26. 

The vanishing of a cloud. Job vii. 9 ; Jas. iv. 14. 



68 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

Being cut down. Job xiv. 2. 
Fleeing as a shadow. Job xiv. 2. 
A great change. Job xiv. 14. 
A long journey. Job xvi. 22. 
The King of Terrors. Job xviii. 14. 
A dream. Job xx. 5. 
A hunter who lays snares. Ps. xviii. 5, 6. 
The shadow of the tomb. Ps. xxiii. 4. 
Flying away. Ps. xc. 10. 
Ceasing of the breath of life. Ps. civ. 29. 
Going down into silence. Ps. cxv. 17. 
The breaking of silver cord and golden bow4. Ecc. ii. 6. 
A robber. Jer. ix. 21 ; Joel ii. 9. 
A stroke. Ezek. xxiv. 16. 
One holding a cup of poison. i\Iatt. xvi. 28. 
An apparition. Luke ii, 26. 
God requiring the soul. Luke xii. 20. 
Yielding up the ghost. Acts v. 10. 
A serpent deprived of its sting, i Cor. xv. 55. 
The earthly tabernacle dissolved. 2 Cor. v. i. 
Putting off the body as a garment. 2 Cor. v. 3, 4. 
Departing this life."^ Phil. i. 23 ; 2 Cor. v. 8 ; 2 Tim. 
iv. 6. 

Putting off this tabernacle. 2 Pet. i. 14. 
A horseman. Rev. vi. 8. 

"If thou expect Death as a friend (John xix. 41), pre- 
pare to entertain him ; if as an enemy, prepare to over- 
come him (i Cor. xv. 26). Death hath no advantage over 
us, but when he comes as a stranger." — Quarles. 

* " Depart" is literally to " start on a voyage" — and "an abundant 
entrance" alludes to making port with all sail set. Clement of Alex- 
andria first notices this. 



IVHA T IS DBA TH ? 69 

XIII. Terminates our Probation. 

Rev. xxii. 11, 12. '' He that is unjust, let him be un- 
just still : and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still : 
and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still : and 
he that is holy, let him be holy still.'' 

(Cf. Ecc. xi. 3; Job xiv. 7-12; Matt. vi. 20; Gal. 
vi. 7 ; Luke xvi. 26 ; 2 Cor. v. 10, etc.) 

"The notion of a state of trial after death is alike un- 
scriptural and unreasonable, (i) God does not need to 
try men forever, to determine their moral character. (2) 
Mortal life is long enough, at its shortest, for this purpose. 
(3) This world is adapted to such a probation (Rom. ii. 
6-1 1 ). (4) Heaven is 7iot adapted to it, because it is an end- 
less reward. (5) Hell is not, because it is an everlasting 
punishment. (6) If the wicked are to be put on a second 
probation, why not the righteous also? (7) Short as life 
is, sinners often finish virtually their stale of trial long be- 
fore they leave the present world. (Cf. Dr. Alexander's 
hymn, ''There is a line by us unseen.") (8) There are 
those who quench the Holy Spirit, and so commit the un- 
pardonable sin. (9) We are no longer authorized to pray 
for such persons (Jer. vii. 16; i John v. 16). (10) When 
is such a second probation to be expected ? Not between 
death and judgnlent (Heb. ix. 27). Not after judgment, 
for then Christ resigns his mediatorial office and king- 
dom (i Cor. XV. 24-2S). Finally (11) Christ says of that 
season of which death is the beginning, and eternity the 
continuance, * The night co?neih, when no man can work' 
(John \y^.^:'—Pond, 

Death is like the " fixing - solution" of the photog- 
rapher ; it is the Medusa's head which turns our shifting 
purposes and actions into stone. 

XIV. To BE Prepared for. Temporally. 

2 Kings XX. I. -'Set thy house in order ; for thou shalt 
die, and not live. 



70 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

Perhaps, in giving this advice, Isaiah thought of Abra- 
ham, who was careful to settle his family affairs before his 
death (Gen. xxv. 5, 6). So should you do also. Making 
your will brings death no sooner. Let it be made justly ; 
paying your debts and making restitution if you have 
wronged any one. Let it be made fairly ; providing for 
your family without invidious distinctions. Let it be 
made in the fear of God ; honoring Him with some part of 
your substance, by appropriating it to some pious and 
charitable use. 

XV. To BE Prepared for, Spiritually. 

Heb. xi. 7. " By faith Noah, being warned of God of 
things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark 
to the saving of his house." 

i^Vide Ps. xxxix. 4, 13 ; xc. 12 ; Amos iv. 12.) 

(Cf. Mark xiii. ^^ ; John vii. 6, and similar passages, 
e.g. Rev. iii. 2.) 

^* The accurate work of salvation, upon which hangs 
eternity, can hardly be done in the dim-foul light of 
dying." — Gauden. 

'* It is unadvisable to put off the providing of salvation- 
graces to a death-bed, seeing that it is so difficult then to 
exercise those that were provided before." — Boyle. 

*' Death-bed repentance. One case that we should not 
despair; but one that we should not presume." — Matt. 
Henry, on Penitent Thief. 

XVL To BE Prepared, one must Believe on Christ. 

John xi. 25. ''I am the Resurrection and the Life ; he 
that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he 
live ; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never 
die." 

Whether we consider preparation for death as habitual 



WHA T IS DBA TH ? - 71 

(Matt. XXV. 4), or actual (as in Luke xii. 36), one thing is 
certain : no one is prepared for death who is not prepared 
for heaven. He must have faith (Mark xvi. 16). He must 
have repenta^ice (Luke xiii. 3). He must be ''born again'' 
(John iii. 3 ; i John v. i). If he is born but once, he will 
die twice (Rev. xx. 14, 15 ; John viii. 24). If he is born 
twice, he will die but once (Rev. ii. 11). 

XVIL Fear of Death— Causes and Cure. 

Heb. ii. 14, 15. ^ ' Forasmuch then as the children are 
partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise 
took part of the same ; that through death he might de- 
stroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil ; 
and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their 
liie-time subject to bondage." 

Analyzing this fear we find, as the first cause, the act of 
dying itself. No doubt God intended that death should be 
a remembrancer of human guilt, and therefore He made it 
what it is. Still, this consideration, of itself, ought not 
unduly to excite our fears. Physicians tell us that much 
of what we call the "agony of death," physiologically 
speaking, is less of agony than of insensibility. The 
hurried breathing, the "death-rattle," and the turned-u^ 
eye-ball especially, are only signs that the sufferer has lost 
all consciousness. Thousands probably have suffered a 
much greater amount of pain, in illnesses from which they 
recovered, than in that of which they died. It is by no 
means a matter of course, that the ''parting struggle" 
should concentrate into it more of agony than that which 
has been endured at any previous period. And the popu- 
lar feeling, perhaps, has more of superstition in it than o^ 
reason, as warranted by the facts which actually exist. 
The same thing may be said of the dread of the earth-ivorni, 
as founded on the over-interpreted English version of 
Job xix. 26, but for which there is not a semblance of 



72 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

truth in the Hebrew;* and of being btaied alive, an event 
so uncommon with any ordinary care, that only a morbid 
sensibility would ever give it a second thought. When 
the muscle loses its irritability and becomes rigid — when 
there is an indication of incipient putrefaction — the evi- 
dence is conclusive. The sooner all this class of thoughts 
is dismissed from the mind, the better. It is not the mere 
act of dying, so much as the being dead, that should be our 
chief occasion of solicitude. 

A second and more important cause for the fear of death 
is undue attachrneiit to the world. We look at our partner 
in life, our children, our parents,' our wealth, and we find 
that a dying hour is but a poor season in which to be 
weaned from the world. Well saith the son of Sirach, 
**0 Death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a 
man that liveth at rest in his possessions, unto the man 
that hath nothing to vex him, and that hath prosperity in 
all things ; yea, unto him tliat is able to receive meat." 
(Ecclus. xli. I.) 

Another cause for this fear of death is, lest in that hour 
we may ho, foiind without a good hope — like a ship without 
an anchor (Heb. vi. ig). Worldly-mindedness plants many 
a thorn in the pillow of the bed of death ; it is but a poor 
preparation either for death or heaven. Let a man make 
a business of his religion, and a religion of his business, 
and his hope, like his piety, will grow "brighter and 
brighter to the perfect day." 

The only cure for such fears as these is faith in Christ ; 

" This, only this, subdues the fear of death — 
A pardon bought with blood ! with blood divine ! " 

" Tell those that are drawing down to the bed of death, 
from my experience," said Sir William Forbes, " that it 

* " WTiile we suppose common worms in graves, it is not easy to 
find any there ; few in church-yards above a foot deep/' — Sir Thotnas 
Browne. 

" And after this my skin is destroyed," etc. — Raymond : Trans, of Job. 



WHA T IS DEA TH ? 73 

has no terrors ; that in the hour when it is most wanted 
there is mercy with the Most High, and that some change 
takes place which fits the sonl to meet its God." 

So said Howard, the philanthropist: "Death has no 
terrors for me." So said the good Halyburton : "I, a 
poor, weak, timorous man, once as much afraid of death 
as any ; I, that have been man}^ years under the terrors of 
death, come now in the mercy of God, and by the power 
of His grace composedly and with joy to look death in 
the face ! This change is what has been well-named 
' dying grace, kept for a dying hour,' and that there is such 
a thing, none can doubt who hav^e been accustomed to 
witness the death of true believers in Him who hath abol- 
ished and destroyed death." (2 Tim. i. 10.) 

XVIII. Indications of Actual Death. 

Job xiv. 20. ''Thou changest his countenance, and 
sendest him away.'* 

(Cf. Ps. xxxix ; [J;^^Ecc. xii. 1-7. 

''The first signs of death are like those of approaching 
sleep after deep weariness, but far stronger. At the same 
time a cold sweat is often perceptible on the face and limbs, 
and the substance of the flesh is sunken and bloodless. 
There is, perhaps, an uneasy motion ; the hands seem 
striving to pick small objects, the grasp is firm, the teeth 
fixed, the lower lip trembles, the body is stretched out, 
the extremities are cold. The senses one by one are en- 
feebled, perhaps extinguished. First the sight fails ; spots 
and flakes appear before the eye, and the fingers strive 
sometimes to remove these from the covering of the bed ; 
the countenances of friends are but imperfectly distin- 
guished ; the candle held closely shines as if through a 
thick mist ; darkness comes on. Hearing endures long- 
est, and often the voice of aflfection and the melody of a 
hymn are sweet to the last. Sometimes the ear fails not 



74 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

until long after the power of utterance has ceased, so that 
a pressure of the hand answers the affectionate question 
to which the tongue strives in vain to reply. Meanwhile 
the breath becomes troubled and irregular, more painful, 
feebler, shorter. The pulse is irembiiug and almost im- 
perceptible. First the left ventricle, then the right, loses 
its motion. There is sometimes a laboring, groaning 
struggle as if in a dream, while all is fainter and fainter, 
at every successive moment. Perhaps a convulsive 
stretch precedes the instant in which, after successive 
ebbs, the breaih expires." — Burgess. 

Either through a relaxation of muscles held in firm posi- 
tions during life by dominant principles or passions, or else 
through the mere absence of emotional play of feature, 
the countenance often returns to the appearance it wore in 
childhood. Startling resemblances to relatives or ances- 
tors, never before noticed, can oftentimes be seen. 

The happiest change of all is when the tide of life goes 
down, and with it all the surges of care from the ocean of 
the years, which now lies still and quietly sparkles with 
the light from above. And then one departs with glad 
face unto the presence of God. 

XIX. Departurp: of the Soul. 

1, It leaves the body. - -- 

Ecc. xii. 7. ' ' The spirit shall return to God who gave 
it. " ■ 

(Cf. Luke xvi. 22 and xxiii. 43 ; 2 Cor. v. 6, etc.) 
Even heathen nations recognize this thought. 

2. Never to retiu'jt until the Resurrection. 

Job xiv. II, 12. "As the waters fail from the sea, and 
the flood decayeth and drieth up : so man lieth down, and 
riseth not : till the heavens be no more, they shall not 
awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. 

Cf. Job vii. 9, 10; x. 21 : xx. 9; Ps. Ixxxviii. 39.' 



WHA 7' IS DEA TH ? 75 

J. Unintei^esied in Life. 

2 Chron. xxxiv. 2^. "Behold, I will gather thee to 
thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in 
peace, neither shall thme eyes see all the evil that I 
will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of 
the same. 
' (Cf. Job xiv. 2 1 and xxi. 21.) 

4. Death puts an end to all ea^'thly projects. 

Job xvii. II. "My days are past, my purposes are 
broken off.'' 
. (Cf. Ecc. ix. 10.) 

XX. Death of the Righteous. 

Met with resignation. ^ Gen. 1. 24. 

To be desired. N'um, xxiii. 10. 

Removes from coming evil. 2 Kings xxii. 20. 

Waited for. Job xiv. 14. 

Met without fear. Ps. xxiii. 4. 

God is with them. Ps. xxiii. 4. 

God preserves them. Ps. xlviii. 14. 

Precious in God's sight. Ps, cxvi. 15. 

Full of hope. Prov. xiv. 32. 

Paill of peace. Isaiah Ivii. 2. 

Full of comfort. Luke xvi. 25. 

To be with Christ. John xvii. 24. 

To fall asleep. Acts vii. 60. 

To put on immortality. i Cor. xv. 53. 

To have death robbed of its sting, i Cor. xv. 56, 57. 

To be present with the Lord. 2 Cor. v. 8. 

It is gain. Phil. i. 21. 



76 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

A sleep in Jesus, i Thess. iv. 14. 

Ends in a crown of life. 2 Tim. iv. 8. 

In a joyful resurrection. Is. xxvi. 19 ; Dan. xii. 2, etc. 

Is blessed. Rev. xiv. 13. 

XXI. Death of the Wicked. 

Foolish. 2 Sam. iii. '^i. 

Sad to survivors. 2 Sam. xviii. 9, '^i. 

Often marked by terror. Job xviii. 11-15. 

Often sudden and unexpected. Job xxi. 13, 17, 21. 

Like the death of beasts. Ps. xhx. 14. 

Without hope. Prov, xi. 7. 

Is in their sins. Ezek. iii. 19 : John viii. 21. 

God has no pleasure in it. Ezek. xviii. 23, ^i. 

This illustrated. Luke xii. 20 ; xvi. 22. 

Follo^v'ed by punishment. Acts i. 25. 

Sometimes horrible. Acts xii. 23. 

XXII. Provision for Passing over the Dark River. 

Josh. i. II and iii. 4. "Prepare you victuals: for 
within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in 
to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you 
to possess it ; . . • . .for ye have not passed this way 
heretofore. ' ' 

I Tim. i. 15. " This is a faithful saying, and worthy 
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world 
to save sinners, of whom I am chief." 

(Cf. I Cor. XV. 31 ; 2 Cor. iv. 11, etc.) 

" I have often inquired what there is Within us or with- 
out us on which a sinner can rest in a dying hour. If it 
be a holy life, there can be no peace for me — taking the law 



WHA T IS DEA TH ? 77 

of God for my standard ; backslider is my name. Yet I 
think in this sacred volume I find a hope even for me, the 
chief of sinners." — Isabella Graham. 

The following passages were found in Mrs. Isabella 
Graham's pocket, after her decease, as her " provision" for 
this purpose. Perhaps if others will turn to them in their 
own Bibles they may prove equally precious. 

Ex. xvi. 35 ; Deut. viii. 2-6 ; Josh. iii. 5-17 ; Ps. x. 17 ; 
xxiii. 4 ; li.; Ixii. i, 2, 5, 7 ; Ixxiii. 24 ; ciii ; cvi. i, 4, 5 ; 
Is. xl. II, 27-31; xliii. 1-4, 24, 25; xliv. 21-23; xlv. 
22, 24 ; xlvi. 4 ; Jer. i. 32 ; ii. 13, 14, 17, 31 ; iii. i, 4, 12, 
13, 14, 20-22, 25 ; Lam. iii. 27 ; Ezek. xvi. 63 ; xxxiv. 11- 
16, 29-31 ; xxxvi. 25-32; Dan. ix. 3-9: Hos. ii. 19,20; 
xiii. 9 ; xiv. 1-8 ; Joel ii. 12, 13. 

Matt, xviii. 11 ; John i. 20 ; iii. 14, 31, 33, 35 ; iv. 10 ; vi. 
51, 56, 63 ; vii. 37 ; x. 11 ; xi. 25-27 ; xiv. 18-20 ; xv. 1-8 ; 
xvi. 13-15; xvii. 20-24; Acts iii. 21 ; i Cor. i. 30 ; iii. 
21, 22 ; Gal. ii. 20 ; Eph. i. 6, 7, 12 ; ii. 4-22 ; iii. 14-21 ; iv. 
4, 15, 16 ; Col. ii 8, 9 ; iii. 3 ; Heb. iv. 14-16 ; viii. 10-12 ; 
I John v. 9-1 1. 

XXIII, Timely Warning to be Given. 

Isaiah xxxviii. i, ''In those days was Hezekiah sick 
unto death, and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, 
came unto him and said, Set thine house in order, for 
thou shalt die, and not live. 

'* I. Friends must speak truthfully to sick friends, and 
tell the sick the real danger of their case. 2. They must 
remind them of what is preparation for death. 3. Isaiah 
did this to a king. 4. Preparation is having part in Christ." 
— A. Bonar. 



XXIV. Brief Words for the Dying. 

Ps. ciii. 13. '' Like as a father pitieth his children, so 



7 8 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

the Lord pitieth them that fear him. for he knoweth our 
frame/' 

Ps, 1. 3. "What time I am afraid I will trust in 
thee. 

Deut. xxxiii. 25. '' As thy day so shall thy strength be. ' ' 

Ps. cxxvii. 2. "He giveth his beloved sleep.'' 

Is. li. 12. ''I, even I, am he that comforteth you." 

Ps. xci. 15. "I will be with him in trouble."" 

Is. xxvii. 8. '' He stayeth his rough wind in the day 
of his east wind. '" 

]Matt. xiv. 27. " It is I ; be not afraid."' 

2 Cor. xii. 9. '']\Iy strength is made perfect iii weak- 
ness. 

Is.- xxvi. 3. ''Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace 
^ whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in 
thee. 

Job xiii. 15. '' Though he slay me, yet will I trust in 
Hmi." 

Ps. xlviii, 14. '' He will be our Guide even unto 
death. '" ' 

Heb. xiii. 5. ''I will never leave thee nor forsake 
thee. 

Heb. xiii. 8. ''Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and 
to-day, and forever. 

Ps. Ixxiii. 25, 26. "Whom have I in heaven but thee .^ 
and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. 
My flesh and my heart faileth ; but God is the strength 
of my heart and my portion forever. 

Eph. ii. 14. " He is our Peace. " 

i\mos. V. 8. "Who turneth the shadow of death into 
the mornino". '' 



jvi/A T IS BE A rn f 79 

I John i. 7. "The bkjod of Jesus Christ, his Son, 
cleanseth us from all sin. 

Luke xxiii. 42. ''Lord, remember me, when thou 
comest into thy kingdom." 

Acts vii. 59. " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."" 
2 Tim. iv. 22. "The Lord Jesus Christ be with th}' 
spirit." 

(Cf. Ps. xxiii. 4 ; Rev. xxi, 4 ; Deut. xxxi. 8 ; Is. xliii. 
1-3, etc.) 

The use of such Scriptures as these has been well com- 
pared to cordials, and to " a cool breeze for a burning 
brow." It is " the Word" who lays His healing hand upon 
the head. One who touched the waters of Jordan said : 
" It appeared to me that, at a dying hour, the proper exer- 
cise of the soul is that of calm waiting, and sure expecta- 
tion of the coming salvation, rather than the performance 
of a multiplicity of devotional exercises." It is better, 
therefore, to speak little, and suggest Scriptures rather than 
an}^ remarks of our own. " Oh, how sweet I" said a dying 
saint, " when we are too weak to think of Christ, still to 
/d'^/ that He is precious " 

" In such a moment as death our eye must rest on 
nothing but Jesus. Not on self, not on past experience^ 
not on our having once believed, but altogether and direct- 
ly on Him whom we are about to see face to face. Neither 
are we to look on death, nor think of its sting. We are 
to think of Him who has made death a ' stingless serpent,' 
a 'powerless enemy,' a 'lion whose great teeth are 
broken.'" — A. Bouar. 

" It was the custom among the Hebrews, Greeks, and 
Romans for the nearest relatives to close the eyes of the 
dead, as, for instance, the husband for the wife and vice 
versa, the parent for the child, and the child for the parent ; 
and where such were wanting, one friend did it for an- 
other. This was looked for by the aged, and its expecta- 



So THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

tion brought much greater content of mind than they 
would otherwise have had. This appears by Gen. xlvi. 
4, where Jacob, fearing he should die on his way to Egypt, 
by reason of his extreme old age or the length of the 
journey, and be thereby deprived of these funeral cere- 
monies, God, to remove those fears and comfort him, told 
him he should die in peace, with his children about him, 
and particularly that ' Joseph should lay his hands on his 
eyes,' as the text expresses it, which was as much as to 
say he should close his eyes and take all other care of his 
funeral." — Thomas Greenhill (1705). 

XXV. The Body in the Custody of Angels. 

Jude 9. ''Yet ]\Iichael the archangel, \vhen contend- 
ing with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, 
durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said. 
The Lord rebuke thee.'' 

(Cf. The guardian angels in the tomb of Christ : IMatt. 
xxviii. 2-6 ; ]\Iark xvi. 5, 6 ; Luke xxiv. 2-4 ; John xx. 
12 ; also Ps. xci. 11, 12 ; Matt. xxiv. 31 ; Mark xiii. 27.) 

It would seem, from the Sacred Scriptures, as if the 
bodies of the saints (as well as their 50uls) were entrusted 
for the time being to the keeping of the holy angels, — a 
thought in which there is some very precious consolation, 

*' It is not a Christian thing to die manifesting indiffer- 
ence as to what is done with the body. That body is re- 
deemed ; not a particle of its dust but was bought with 
drops of Christ's precious blood, and shall put on incor- 
ruption." — Henry Melvill. 

XXVL The Intermediate State. 

"On the death of the body the departing spirit is 
transported into a condition which, in the light of the 
Gospel, can just as little be conceived of as one of un- 



JVHA T IS DBA TH ? 5 r 

conscious sleep, as one of already completed happiness 
or misery. Rather must it be looked upon as a state of 
self-consciousness and of p.rehminary retribution, but, at 
the same time, one of gradual transition to a great final 
decision — a transition experienced in a world of spirits, 
in whose various circles Salvation or Perdition is de- 
termined above all by the inner state of each/' — Van 
^^^^•/(^rs:^?^ (''Christian Dogmatics,'' p. 779). 

XXVII. Grief finding Utterance. 

I. Lamentation. 

Job xxiii. I. '' Then Job answered and said, 

" 2. Even to-day is my complaint bitter : my stroke 
is heavier than my groaning. 

"3. Oh that I knew where I might find him! that 
I might come even to his seat I 

''4. I would order my cause before him, and fill my 
mouth with arguments. 

" 5. I would know the words w^hich he would answer 
me, and understand what he would say unto me. 

"6. Will he plead against me with his great power .^ 
No ; but he would put strength in me. 

''7. There the righteous might dispute with him; so 
should I be delivered forever from my judge. 

"8. Behold, T go forward, but he is not there ; and 
backward, but I cannot perceive him : 

'' 9. On the left hand, where he doth work, but I can- 
not behold him ; he hideth himself on the right hand, 
that I cannot see him : 

'' 10. But he knoweth the w^ay that I take : when he 
hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. 



82 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

'' II. ]\Iy foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, 
and not dedined. 

'' 12. Neither have I gone back from* the command- 
ment of his hps ; I have esteemed the words of his mouth 
more than my necessary food. 

''13. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him ? 
and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. 

" 14. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for 
me ; and many such things are wdth him. 

''15. Therefore am I troubled at his presence : when I 
consider, I am afraid of him. 

"16. For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty 
troubleth me : 

"17. Because I w^as not cut off before the darkness, 
neither hath he covered the darkness from my face. 

We have often blessed God that there was a 23d chap- 
ter of Job as well as a 23d Psalm. If it be an evidence 
that the Bible is of God, because it fits in so perfectly to 
all the folds of the human heart, surely we have such evi- 
dence here. 

V. 2. Sighs and groans are not improper; anguish must 
have vent. V. 3. The affliction does not seem right to the 
sufferer. V. 4. He could present many reasons why it 
appears to him it should be otherwise. V. 5. He would 
know God's answer. V. 6. It would not be harsh or arbi- 
trary. He would even help him to present his case in the 
best form. V. 7. The result of such a conference would be 
entirely satisfactory. Vv. 8, g. But, in the absence of such an 
answer, all is dark. Past, present, future — look at it as he 
will in any of its relations, he cannot understand it. V. 10. 
His only refuge is Faith. " It ma}^ be the most impenetrable 
shade that ever any but David or Adam sat under, lament- 
ing an Absalom or Cain accursed of God. But here is a 
ray from the throne: 'He knoweth the way that I iakey 



WIIA T IS BE A TH ? 83 

Vv. II, 12, Others may look upon it as a ''judgment," 
in which there is no mercy — to him it is a mysteriou-s " dis- 
cipline." V. 13. God makes no mistakes. It is according 
to the plan of life that he has marked out for him. V. 14. 
After all, it is not a singular case ; many fellow-sufferers 
are in the same furnace. V. 16, 17. Such a thought over- 
whelms, softens him, weans him from this world, and leads 
him to desire another and a better. 

2, Chastening. 

Ps. xciv. 12. "Blessed is the man whom thou chas- 
tenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law. 

Deut viii. 5. "Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, 
that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God 
chasteneth thee. 

Heb. xii. 6. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, 
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." 

Heb. xii. 7. "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth 
with you as with sons ; for what son is he whom the 
Father chasteneth not } ' * 

Heb. xii. 8, "If ye be v/ithout chastisement, whereof 
all are partakers, then are ye .... not sons. 

Heb. xii. 11. "Now no chastening for the present 
seemieth to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward 
it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them 
that are exercised thereby. 

Heb. xii. 16. "Furthermore we have had fathers of 
our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them rever- 
ence : shall we not much rather be in subjection to the 
Father of spirits and live ? For they verily for a few days 
chastened us after their own pleasure ; but he for our 
profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." 

I Cor. xi. 32. "But when we are judged, we are 



84 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

chastened of the Lord, that we should not be con- 
demned with the world/'* 

Heb. xii. 12. "Wherefore lift up the hands that hang 
down and the feeble knees." 

Prov. iii. 11, 12. ''My son, despise not the chasten- 
ing of the Lord ; neither be weary of his correction : 
for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth ; even as a 
father the son in whom he delighteth. 

All the afflicted children of God sustain the same rela- 
tion to him. Whatever be the different forms of chastise- 
ment, they may avail themselves of the same promises. 
Whether on the rack or at the stake, or in the midst of 
sickness, poverty, or bereavement, their trials are alike 
perfnitted by Him who " knoweth the way that we take." 
Not willingly does He afflict, but in faithfulness. Does 
He throw us into the furnace of affliction — perhaps " seven 
times heated"? It is that we may "come forth as gold." 
Does he "prune" us? It is that we may "bear more 
fruit." Does He "empty us from vessel to vessel" ? It 
is that we may not rest upon our lees. Does He allow 
calamity to come upon us as on Job ? It is that we may 
glorify Him in the fires ! " God has his martyrs still^ 

J. Exhortation. 

Ps. xlvi. 10. ''Be still, and know that I am God : I 
will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in 
the earth.'' 

Is. xlviii. 17. "I am the Lord thy God which teacheth 
thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the w^ay that thou 
shouldest go." 

Mic. vi. 9. " Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed 
it." 

Lam. iii. 33, " For he doth not afflict willingly nor 
grieve the children of men." 



^ WHA T IS BE A TH ? 85 

Job ix. 12. "Behold, he taketh away ; who can hinder 
him ? who will say unto him, What doest thou?" 

Job V. 17, 18. "Behold, happy is the man whom 
God correcteth : therefore despise not thou the chasten- 
ing of the Almighty : for he maketh sore, and bindeth 
up : he woundeth, and his hands make whole.'" 

Ps. Iv. 22. "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and 
he shall sustain thee : he shall never suffer the righteous 
to be moved/' 

Ps. xlvi. I . " God is our refuge and strength, a very 
present help in trouble." 

Ps. XXX. 5. "Weeping may endure for a night, but 
joy cometh in the morning." 

Ps. xxvii. 14. "Wait on the Lord : be of good cour- 
age, and he shall strengthen thine heart : v.ait, I say, on 
the Lord." 

• No doctrine is so full of consolation and so adapted to 
yield support in the hour of affliction as *' Himself hath 
done it" (Is. xxxviii. 15). The Scripture saints understood it 
well. Afflictions do not come out of the ground ; do not 
come up by chance ; are not the result of a blind and un- 
meaning fate. They are not merely the work of Satan or 
evil men, or any other second cause. "He woundeth, and 
His hands make whole I" 

4. Consolatmt. 

2 Cor. i. 3, 4. "Blessed be God, even the Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the 
God of all comfort ; who comforteth us in all our tribula- 
tion, that we may be able to comfort them which are in 
any trouble, by the comfort wherewith Ave ourselves are 
comforted of God."' 

Is. Ixvi. 13. "As one whom his mother comforteth, so 



86 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

will I comfort you ; and ye shall be comforted in Jeru- 
salem. 

Is. xli. lo. '' Fear thou not ; for I am with thee : be 
not dismayed ; for I am thy God : I will strengthen 
thee ; yea, I will help thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with 
the right hand of my righteousness. " ' 

Is. xliii. 2. ''When thou passest through the waters, I 
will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not 
overflow thee : when thou walkest through the fire, thou 
shalt not be burned ; neither shall the flame kindle upon 
thee. " ' 

Is. liv. lo. ''For the mountains shall depart, and the 
hills be removed ; but my kindness shall not depart from, 
thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be re- 
moved, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." 

John xiii. 7. "What I do, thou knowest not now, but 
thou shalt know hereafter."' 

Rom. V. 3-5. "And not only so, but we glory in 
tribulations also ; knowing that tribulation worketh pa- 
tience ; and patience, experience ; and experience, hope : 
and hope maketh not ashamed ; because the love of 
God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost 
which is given unto us. ' ' 

2 Cor. iv. 17. "For our light affliction, which is but 
for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory. ' ' 

Thank God ! in the hour of trouble we are not left to the 
mercies of a priest or Levite, but the Good Samaritan Him- 
self is ever ready to pour in oil and wine into our bleed- 
ing wounds. There is Balm in Gilead. There is a Great 
Physician there ! 



WHA T IS DEA TH ? 87 

5. ResigJiation. 

Ps. cxix. 75. ''I know, O Lord, that thy judgments 
are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.'' 

Job xxxvi. 3. "And will ascribe righteousness to my 
Maker/' 

Gen. xviii. 2^. " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do 
right T ' 

Matt. xxvi. 39. "O my Father, if it be possible, let 
this cup pass from me : nevertheless, not as I will, but as 
thou wilt." 

I Sam. iii. 18. "It is the Lord: let him do what 
seemeth him good. 

Job ii. 10. "Shall we receive good at the hand of 
God, and shall we not receive evil .^ In all this did not 
Job sin with his lips." 

Ps. xxxix. 9. "I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, 
because thou didst it.'' 

Job i. 21. "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken 
away ; blessed be the name of the Lord." 

Acts xxi. 14. " The will of the Lord be done."' 

Hab. iii. 17,18. " Although the fig tree shall not blos- 
som, neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labour of the 
olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat ; the 
flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no 
herd in the stalls : yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will 
joy in the God of my salvation.'' 

Ps. Ixxiii. 25, 26. ^ '' Whom have I in heaven but thee .^ 
and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. 
i\Iy flesh and my heart faileth ; but God is the strength 
of my heart and my portion forever. 

" Christ bore the cross and suffered the shame, among 



88 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

other reasons to teach us how to go through suffering. 
There is a clear distinction between silence and sullenness. 
A holy silence is the result of submission to God, confi- 
dence in Christ, and that consolation which is derived from 
Him/' — Cecil. 

"" A sinner has no reason to complain ; and a believing 
sinner — who has God's favour, support, and consolation^* 
has no reason to complain." — yohn Nezvton. 

6. Precious Promises. 

Ps. xxxiv. 19. '' Many are the afflictions of the right- 
eous : but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. ' ' 

Is. xlii. 3. ''A. bruised reed shall he not break, and 
the smoking flax shall he not quench : he shall bring 
iorth judgment unto truth." 

Ps. cxlvii. 3.. "He healeth the broken in heart, and 
bindeth up their wounds." 

Is. xl. 29. " He giveth power to the faint ; and to them 
that have no might he increaseth strength.'' 

John xiv. 18. ''I will not leave you comfortless : I will 
come to you. 

Ps. 1. 15. ''And call upon me in the day of trouble ; 
I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.'"' 

2 Cor. xii. 9. ''My grace is sufficient for thee : for my 
strength is made perfect in weakness. ' ' • 

Luke vii. 2"^. "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be 
offended in me.*' 

*' It is not a little remarkable that in the Hebrew there 
is no special term for promise. That which our version 
renders "promise" is simply "word" — yes, word — no 
more. God's word is His promise. With men more may 
be needed, but with one so true, so loving, so powerful, 
so unchangeable. His word is enough." — A. Bonar. 

*' Every promise is built upon four pillars, God's Holi- 



WHA T IS DBA TH ? 89 

ness, which will not suffer Him to deceive ; His Grace or 
Goodness, which will not suffer Him to forget ; His Truth, 
which will not suffer Him to change ; and His Power, 
which makes Him able to accomplish." 

7. Syynpathy. 

Job xix. 21. '' Have pity on me, have pity upon me, 
O ye my friends ; for the hand of God hath touched me. ' ' 
Job vi. 14. ''To him that is afflicted pity should be 
shewed from his friend.'' 

Prov. xvii. 17. ''A friend loveth at all times, and a 
brother is born for adversity. ' ' 

Rom xii. 15. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and 
weep with them that weep. ' ' 

Heb. iv. 15. " For we have not an high priest which 
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; but 
was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.'' 
John xi. 33-35. '' When Jesus therefore saw her weep- 
ing, and the Jew^s also weeping that came with her, he 
groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said. Where 
have ye laid him } They said unto him. Lord, come and 
see. Jesus wept." 

'' O most blessed mourner, with whose tears thy Saviour 
mingles His own"! O sympathy most unparalleled ! To 
each of the two stricken and afflicted ones the Lord ad- 
dressed the very consolation that was most congenial. To 
Martha He gave exceeding great and precious assurances, 
in words such as never man spoke. To Mary He com- 
municated the groanings of His spirit in language more 
expressive to the heart than any spoken words could be. 
With Martha Jesus discoursed and reasoned. With Mary 

Jesus wept He is a patient hearer if you 

have anything to say to Him ; and He will speak to you 
as you are able to bear it. . . . For the sorrow that 
seeks vent in words, and desires also to be soothed by 



90 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

words, there is the Saviour's open ear — there are the 
Saviour's lips into which grace was poured. For the grief 
that is dumb and silent, there are the Saviour's tears." — 
Candlish. 

'' I do not find, in all God's Bible, anything requiring us 
to acquiesce in the final destruction of any for whom we 
have prayed, pleaded, and co'mmitted to Him ; least of all, 
our offspring whom he has commanded us to train up for 
Him. ' Children are God's heritage.' I do not say He 
has given us any promise for the obstinately wicked ; but 
when cut off, He only requires us to be still, to hold our 
peace. I do not think He takes hope from us." — From 
" a consoling letter " of Isabella Graham. 

8. Sorrow, whe?t Excessive. 

1. When we forget remaining mercies like Jacob. 
Gen. xxxvii. 35. 

2. When we are so absorbed in our own sorrow as to for- 
get that of others. Phil. ii. 21. 

3. When it sours the spirit and excites mourning. 
Is. xxix. 24. 

4. When it preys upon the health. 2 Cor. ii. 7. 

5. When it unfits us for our duties. ]Mark xiv. t^S. 

6. When we voluntarily excite and stimulate our grief. 
2 Sam. xxi. 10. 

7. When we become impatient like a bullock unac- 
customed to the yoke. Jer. xxxi. 18. 

8. When, like Jonah at the withering of his gourd, 
we become angry, and wilh whom .^ Jonah iv. 9. 

9. When with the man of Mt. Ephraim we exclaim in 
the bitterness of our disappointment, ''Ye have taken 
away my gods, and what have I more T ' Judges xviii. 24. 

10. When ours is ''the sorrow of the world, that 
worketh death." 2 Cor. vii. 10 ; Prov. xvii. 22. 



WHA T IS DBA TH ? ■ 91 

•'Sorrow for the dead is the only sorrow from which we 
refuse to be divorced. Every other wound we seek to 
heal ; every other affliction to forget : but this wound we 
consider it a duty to keep open ; this affliction we cherish 
and brood over in solitude." — Irvuig. 

*' There is a kind of delight in sorrow," says Seneca. 
Yes, there is, but it is a subtile form of selfishness, and eats 
into the heart as doth a canker. Beware of it as you would 
beware of poison. 

XXVIII. Advice to the Bereaved. 

Is. xl. I. ''Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith 
your God. 

1. The Author of your bereavement is God. "Why 
dost thou strive against him V' Job xxxiii. 13. 

2. Your dearest relatives are not your chief good. 
The Creator is better than the creature, and God is still 
left to you. Ps. Ixxiii. 25. 

3. However unexpected the death of your relative or 
friend, you enjoyed their societ}- during every moment 
allotted by heaven. Job xiv. 5. 

4. Whatever be your grief for the death of your children, 
it might have been still greater from their life, 2 Sam. 
xvi. II. 

5. God may have taken him from the evil to come. Is. 
ivii. I, 2. 

6. To be human is to be mortal ; at some time you must 
part, and this time is the best. Ps. xxxi. 15. 

7. Perhaps you said of your child as Lamech said of 
his : "This same shall comfort us.'' If so, you were 
building on the sand. Matt. vii. 2(i. 

8. The hope of resurrection still remains, {ci) The 
same body shall be restored. Job xix. 2*]. {b) You will 



92 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

recognize it again, i Thess. ii. 19. (c) You will meet, 
never more to part. Rev. xxi. i ; iii. 1 2. 

9. It is as easy for God to revive, as to extinguish, our 
comforts. Ps. xviii. 28. 

10. God can give you something better than you 
have lost. Is. Ivi. 5. 

11. By indulging excessive grief you give advantage to 
the adversary and dishonour God. Ps. Ixxiii. 13-15 ; 
Ps. xlii. 3. 

12. You have not seen the end of your affliction as 
yet, so as to understand all its merciful designs. Ps. cxix. 

67, 71. 

Such are some of the "considerations" of the excellent 
Flavel, which have been tested too long and too often to 
leave any doubt as to their value. 

The simple difference between the believer and the un- 
believer, in times of trial, is just this : The unbeliever, 
judging of the character of God by the tryijig dispensation^ 
does not look beyond the circle of his own selfishness. 
* He judges of the surgeon by the knife and saw and cau- 
tery, and the present suffering ihat they occasion, rather 
than by the real design and future gain of such a torture. 
The believer, on the other hand, judges of his trials by the 
character of God—oi the nature of the operation by the 
character of the surgeon. This calamity, he says, is no 
accident— no chance — no fate — it is the Finger of God. 
When asked whether he sees the reason of his heavy trial, 
he says with Dr. Payson : "No ! but, assured that it is 
God's will, I am just as well satisfied as if I had ten thou- 
sand reasons." 

XXIX. Positive Signs of Death. 

Premature interment is feared by many, and it is im- 
portant to know the positive signs of death. The princi- 
pal points are : 



WHA T IS BE A TH f 93 

1. The '' Hippocratic visage.'' — In this ''the nose is 
pointed ; eyes are sunk ; temples hollow ; ears cold and 
shrivelled, and with lobes turned up ; skin of forehead 
hard, tense and dry ; color of face pale, black, livid, or of 
a leaden hue." 

2. The " rigor mortis'' or stiffening of the limbs and 
body. Carpenter (" Human Physiology," p. 864) requires 
this rigidity to be well marked. 

3. Putrefaction generally begins by a discoloration of 
the abdomen. Its odor places the fact beyond doubt. 

4. Other signs are : loss of elasticity in the eyelids, 
which remain as they are placed; absence of breath or 
pulse, though these are not positive indications of death ; 
and the coldness and insensibility of the body. [See fur- 
ther on these points Am. Med. Recorder, V., p. 39 ; '' Med- 
ical Aspects of Death," by Harrison, London, 1852 ; *' On 
Trance and Catalepsy," Quart. Journal Psychological Med- 
icine, HI., 647; Wharton & Stille, or Beck's, "Medical 
Jurisprudence," or any reliable work on Human Physiol- 
ogy-] 

5. If doubt exists as to death, refuse the ice-box. If 
color, heat, flexibility of limbs, etc., remain, do not per- 
mit burial. Josat gives 162 instances of recovery from a 
trance or cataleptic condition. Apparent death was long- 
est in hysteria, and shortest in concussion of the brain. It 
lasted in 7 cases from 36 to 42 hours ; 20 cases from 20 to 
36 hours; 47 cases from 15 to 20 hours ; 58 cases from 8 
to 15 hours ; 30 cases from 2 to 8 hours. 

Cataleptics feel pain, hear, and think as usual, but are 
motionless and helpless. Use 7to barbarous methods to re- 
suscitate them. Proper care will prevent all mistakes. 
Bodies turn in their coffins from other reasons than a 
struggle for life, e.g. development of gases. 

After death the hair and beard and nails frequently 
grow ; food sometimes digests ; the kidneys and liver 
occasionally secrete as before ; and it is reported that the 
teeth increase, now and then, in size. 



94 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

XXX. The Law of BuR'iAL. 

From a report presented by Samuel B. Ruggles (see 
H. T. Tuckerman's article in the Chrisiian Examine?', 
November, 1856, p. 338) we take the following concise 
statement of the rights inherent in relatives of the de- 
ceased. It is there demonstrated : — 

" I. That neither a corpse, nor its burial, is legally sub- 
ject in any way to ecclesiastical cognizance, nor to sacer- 
dotal power of any kind. 

" 2. That the right to bury a corpse and to preserve its 
remains is a legal right, which the courts of Jaw will rec- 
ognize and protect. 

'*3. That such right, in the absence of any testamentary 
disposition, belongs to the next of kin. 

" 4. That the right to protect the remains, includes the 
right to protect them by separate burial, and to select the 
place of sepulture, and change that at pleasure. 

*'5. That if the place of burial be taken for public use, 
the next of kin may claim to be indemnified, for the ex- 
pense of removing and suitably re-interring the remains." 
Cemeteries have rules of their own which can be easily 
obtained, and which no general guide could well supply. 
The word "cemetery" itself means ''sleeping-place." 
In a similar manner the Jews called their burial-places by 
such names as ' '' house of assembly, ' ' ' ' hostelry, 
''place of rest/'' ''place of freedom.*'" ''field of the 
weepers, " " house of eternity, " " house of life. 

''O eloquent, just, and mighty Death! Whom none 
could advise, thou hast persuaded ! What none have dared, 
thou hast done ! And whom all the world hath flattered, 
thou only hast cast out of the world and diespised ! Thou 
hast drawn together all the far-fetched greatness, all the 
pride, cruelty, and ambition of man : and covered it all over 
with these two narrow words : 

Hie jacet.*^ 

—Sir Walter Raleigh : Conclusion of his "' History of the World." 



III. 

THE FUNERAL. 



"The life of a Christen man is nothynge but a readines 
to dye, and a remembraunce of death." 

Hugh Latimer : Seventh Sennon before Edw. VI, 



THE FUNERAL. 

I. The Duties of the Clergyman. 

The late Rev. Enoch Pond, D. D. (Professor for many 
years in the Theological Seminary at Bangor, Me.), has 
given such explicit and capital directions concerning 
funeral services, that we condense them here from his 
' ' Young Pastor' s Guide. '" ' 

1. A minister has no option ; he must attend them. 
They are matters in which his feelings, duties, and inter- 
ests are equally involved. 

2. The mode of attending funerals is different in dif- 
ferent places. But the services embrace always an address 
and a prayer. In the country they are often of more 
general importance than in town. 

3. The services, including hymns and Scripture, should 
be appropriate. There should be no same?iess and iini- 
forinity. Let the peculiarities of the case direct the 
minister how to adapt his services. 

4. Let the manner of the speaker be sympathetic, sub- 
dued, and tender. If a man love his people it can hardly 
be otherwise. He can be faithful and tender, too. 

5. The services should be short. ]\Iost funeral pray- 
ers. Dr. Pond thinks, are too long, either because they 
are too general, or too particular. 

6. The reasons for brevity are plain. There must be 



98 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

time to see the face, to attend the body to the grave, and 
to return. 

7. The true object of funeral addresses is not so much 
to eulogize the dead, as to instruct, comfort, and benefit 
the Hving. 

8. It may be proper to speak of the vices of the de- 
ceased, when these have resulted in ruin : but only in the 
way of charity and kindness — if at all. 

9. Let the speaker trace the overruling providefice of 
God. 

10. Let him show this as the true ground of comfort. 
It comforted Eli: ''It is the Lord; let him do what 
seemeth him good.'"' i Sam. iii. 18. 

1 1 . Consolation can be drawn often from the character 
of the dead. ]\Iourners are always partial friends, and 
they love to hear a kind word from their minister. But 
the minister must keep soberly within the truth. 

12. Other consolations are those of religion, in case 
one has died in hope and peace. In cases of rather 
doubtful piety one had best be silent He need disturb no 
hopes, but he must be careful not to lower the standard 
of Christian living. 

13. Dr. Pond objects to saying openly that the dead 
are lost. The inference is hard enough to bear. 

14. Funeral sermons generally are to be discouraged — 
• especially wjien one is expected to take the Sabbath for 

them. It certainly ought not to be expected. Indeed, 
one may remark, that of late years it is unusual to look 
for a formal discourse, unless the dead person has held 
public positions or possessed extended influence. 

15. Very properly, too, Dr. Pond opposes Sunday 



THE FUNERAL. 99 

funerals. And if the ministers of our various towns and 
cities combined to oppose all but those which were im- 
perative, there would be a marked advantage gained. 

1 6. As to going beyond one's own pa7'ish, Dr. Pond 
counsels prudence and wisdom. Let one not be used to 
encourage churches, or communities, in depending upon 
other pastors, and refusing to have what they are well able 
to support. We may add that Christian and ministerial 
courtesy strictly require, that one should never supersede a 
brother minister, in the duty w^hich belongs to him as the 
pastor of the dead. Nor should families neglect that 
polite and kindly treatm.ent of the clergyman, which, 
when forgotten, makes this part of his duty sometimes 
both difficult and delicate. 

17. Finally, let the minister be punctual. Anything 
but dilatoriness at a funeral ! 

II. Preparation for Burial. 

' ' When we have received the last breath of our friend 
and closed his eyes," says good Jeremy Taylor, ''there 
is a time to w^eep and lament, as he is worthy. Some- 
thing is to be given to custom, something to fame, to 
nature, and to civilities, and to the honor of the deceased 
friend. 

"When thou hast wept a while, compose the body to 
burial : which, that it be done gravely, decently, and 
charitably, we have the example of all nations to engage 
us, and of all ages of the world to warrant ; so that it is 
against common honesty, and public fame and reputation, 
not to do this office. 

"It is good that the body be kept veiled and secret, 



lOO THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

and not exposed to curious eyes ; or the dishonors brought 
by the changes of death discerned and stared upon by 
impertinent persons. 

^'Let it be interred after the manner of the country, 
and the laws of the place, and the dignity of the person. 
For so Jacob was buried with great solemnity, and 
Joseph's bones were carried into Canaan, and devout men 
carried Stephen to his burial, making great lamentation 
over him. And so our blessed Saviour was pleased to ad- 
mit the cost of Mary's ointment, because she did it for 
his burial. In this, as in everything else, as our piety 
must not pass into superstition, or vain expense, so 
neither must the excess be turned into parsimony, and 
impiety to the memory of the dead. 

III. Ministers of Christ to be sent for. 

Acts ix. 36-39. ''Now there was at Joppa a certain 
disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called 
Dorcas : this woman was full of good works and alms- 
deeds which she did. And it came to pass in those days 
that she was sick, and died :- whom when they had 
washed, they laid her in an upper chamber. And foras- 
much as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had 
heard that Peter was there, they sent unto hirn two men, 
desiring him that he would not delay to come to them. 
Then Peter arose and went with them. 

Every one who dies in a Christian land is entitled to a 
Christian burial, and the minister who refuses such ser- 
vice has little sympathy with the apostle or with Barnabas, 
the "Son of consolation," and least of all with his Master. 
'' Learn much of Christ in such an hour," says McCheyne. 
" Study Him at the grave of Lazarus (John xi.); at the gate 
of Nain (Luke vii.), and also ' within the veil' (Rev. i. 18)." 



THE FUNERAL, lOI 

IV. The First Funeral. 

Gen. xxiii. 2-4, 19, 20. ''And Abraham came to 
mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. And iVbraham 
stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of 
Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you : 
give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that 

I may bury my dead out of my sight And 

after this Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of 
the field of Machpelah before IMamre : the same is Hebron 
in the land of Canaan. And the field and the cave that 
is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession 
of a burying-place by the sons of Heth."' 

" I. Here is deep feeling for a fellow-pilgrim's death. 2. 
Here is the pilgrim feeling increased : anew he con- 
fesses that he is but a stranger here. 3. Here is faith as 
well as feeling, for therefore it is he buries Sarah in 
Canaan. He believes the word of God about that land, 
and he looks forward to resurrection by Him who is to be 
revealed there. 4. These are the accompaniments of the 
yfrj-/ /2m^r<^/ mentioned in the Bible." — A, Bonar. 

V. The Burial of Rachel. 

Gen. xlviii. 7. ' ' And as for me, when I came from 
Padan, Rachel died by me, in the land of Canaan, in the 
w^ay, when yet there was but a little way to come unto 
Ephrath : and I buried her there, in the way of Ephrath ; 
the same is Beth-lehem. 

In these broken sentences one can almost hear the sighs 
and heart-throbs of the departing patriarch. The scene of 
Rachel's death was just as vivid before his mind, as though 
it had occurred but the day before. 

(Cf. Abraham's burial. Gen. xxv. g ; Isaac's, Gen. xxxv. 
29 ; Jacob's, Gen. 1., and Abner's, 2 Sam, iii. 31.) 



I02 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

\Other inslances : — Aaron, Deut. x. 6, Saul, 2 Sam. ii. 
4, 5 ; I Chron. x. ii, I2 ; 2 Sam. xxi. 12-14. Samson, 
Judges xvi. 31. The head of Ishbosheth, 2 Sam. iv. 12. 
Rehoboam, i Kings xiv. 31. Asa, i Kings xv. 24. Jehosh- 
aphat, I Kings xxii. 50. Ahaziah, 2 Kings ix. 27, 28. 
Hezekiah, 2 Chron. xxxii. 33. Ananias and Sapphira, 
Acts V. 6, 9, 10.] 

VI. The Burial of Jesus. 

''And now when the even was come, there came a 
rich man of Arimathea, ... a good man and a just,. . . 
who was a disciple of Jesus, . . . who went in boldly unto 
Pilate and craved the body of Jesus. And w^hen Pilate 
knew of the centurion that Jesus was already dead, he 
gave the body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen, and 
came and took the body of Jesus. And there came also 
Nicodemus, who brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, 
about a hundred pounds weight. Then took they the 
body of Jesus, and wound i.t in the linen clothes with the 
spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the 
place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in 
the garden a new sepulchre hewn out of the rock, where- 
in was never man laid, which belonged to Joseph. And 
there was Mary ^Magdalene and ]\Iary, the mother of Jo- 
ses, sitting over against the sepulchre, and beheld where 
he was laid. And they returned and prepared spices and 
ointments.'' — Gospels in Harmony. 

Joseph and Nicodemus — the two Marys — the fine linen 
the winding-sheet — the spices — the new sepulchre — the 
" sitting over against the sepulchre." — How suggestive all 
these incidents to the " disciples of Jesus" ! 

''All the thoughts and exercises of my mind are em- 
ployed in the tomb of Jesus. He is dead — I die with Him. 



THE FUNERAL, 103 

To please Him I will mortify my sinful flesh. All my 
desires and lusts will I take captive. I will bury them in 
His grave. Never shall they rule again in me. His death 
shall be my life. If I die with Him I shall also live with 
Him. I will wet His grave with the tears of penitence. 
My heart shall be the fine clean linen into which I will 
wrap Him. Thus will His sufferings bless my soul. I will 
seal up His remembrance in my heart. Love shall be the 
seal. When I die I shall die in His arms. Delightful rest 
shall I enjoy there. His shroud shall be my ornament ; 
His coffin my grave." — Old Writer. 

*'The good man placed the body of Jesus in a tomb in 
the rock where yet never man was laid. Let there be 
hewn out oi your rocky hearts, not a sepulchre for the 
dead, but a residence for the living Christ." — Fto))i extem- 
pore speech of Dr. John Hall. 

"Looking into the perfect law of liberty" is, literally, 
*' stooping down and looking in." When we have done 
so we find that the Christ, whom no mere words can hold 
in their rocky embrace, has risen and comes to call us by 
our very name. Happy are we if we are able to say 
" Rabboni !" 

VII. Deprivation of Burial a Calamity. 

Ecc. vi. 3, 4. "If a man beget an hundred children, 
and live many years, sO that the days of his years be 
many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that < 
he have no burial ; I say, that an untimely birth is better 
than he. For he cometh in' with vanity, and departeth in 
darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness." 

(Cf. Deut. xxviii. 26 ; i Kings xvi. 4 ; xxi. 23, 24 ; 
2 Kings ix. 10, "^"i ] Ps. Ixxix. 2 ; Is. xiv. 19 ; Jer. vii. 
^'^ ; xvi. 4 ; xxv. 33 ; xxxiv. 20 ; Mark vi. 29 ; Acts ii. 
29, etc.) I^^Ezek. xxxix. 11-16. 

The important inference to be drawn from this loss of 



104 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

burial, is that of the sacredness of the human body. He 
who bids us render our bodies to his service, teaches us to 
honor them even after death. 

VIII. Burial AMONG PRniiTivE Christians. 

In the early ages of the Church, when, to use a strik- 
ing figure of Jerome, ''the blood of Christ was yet warm 
in the veins of His disciples," they were distinguished by 
their care for the dead, and their sympathies with the 
afflicted. Their funeral solemnities they celebrated with 
gravity and propriety, with the intent of showing due re- 
spect to the deceased, and of administering consolation to 
the survivors. Their funeral services were performed as a 
public religious duty ; and this is one of the three points 
in which they were commended by the apostate Julian. 

"The early Christians were accustomed to entertain 
cheerful views of death, as a soft and gentle slumber, 
from which they awoke to a joyful immortality. The com- 
mon emblems of death on their sepulchral monuments 
were an anchor, a lyre, a harp, a ship under full sail ; or a 
phoenix, a crown, a palm, or other symbols of hope, and 
of victory, and of joy." — Coleman : "Ancient Christianity." 

IX. Cremation. 

This was purely a heathen practice. Dr. Becker, in his 
'' Charicles," gives an exhaustive sketch of Greek funereal 
customs, it is interesting to observe how many of these 
we have made our own — ^.^., the right of a corpse to 
burial ; the anointing and washing of the body and the use 
of the white shroud ; the employment of garlands of flow- 
ers ; the laying out of the dead and the attendance of the 
relatives and friends : the burial on the third dav ; the 



THE FUNERAL. 105 

procession following the bier, which is borne by relatives 
or friends : the final burying in a wooden or stone coffin. 
But we have his high authority for saying that burning 
was no more frequent than burying. We have Christian- 
ized the ordinary Greek ceremonies — omitting the obolus 
between the teeth and the honey-cake by the hand. But 
we will find it hard to adopt the idea of cremation, in the 
face of the evident dislike to it in scripture. The ''burn- 
ings of the kings" were not the burning of their bodies, 
but of fragrant woods and incense (2 Chron. xvi. 14 ; 
Jer. xxxiv. 4, 5). 

(Cf. I Sam. xxxi. 12 ; Amos ii. i ; vi. 9, 10.) 

X. Obituaries, Inscriptions, and Epitaphs. 

I. The Obitua7y is a notice of a person' s death, accom- 
panied by a brief sketch of his life and character. Brev- 
ity, truth, fitness, and force are essential qualities. In 
obituaries it seems proper to mention salient features and 
incidents of the life — fine characteristics — distinguished 
public and private services — and, under certain circum- 
stances, the peculiar nature of the death. Fulsome flat- 
tery or eulogy is wrong. A just, discriminating, and 
manly tribute to the memory of the deceased, executed 
in good taste, is always best. 

2. Monumental Inscriptions, 

" It is natural that filial piety, parental tenderness, and 
conjugal love, should mark with some fond memorial the 
spot where the once loved form now moulders into dust. 
A marble monument, with an inscription palpably false, or 
ridiculously pompous, is as really offensive to true taste as 



I06 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

the skull and cross-bones. . . . The style of such in- 
scriptions is usually too diffuse." — Alexander Knox. 

J. Epitaphs. 

Legh Richmond says, ^'I have often lamented .... 
that some of the inscriptions were coarse and ridiculous ; 
others absurdly flattering ; many expressive of senti- 
ments at variance with the true principles of the word of 
God ; not a few barren and unaccompanied with a single 
word of useful instruction to the reader. ... I wish 
that every gravestone might not only record the names 
of our deceased friends, but also proclaim the name of 
jesus, as the only name given under heaven whereby men 
can be saved. 

'' The first requisite in an epitaph is that it should speak, 
in a tone which shall sink into the heart,- the general lan- 
guage of humanity as connected with the subject of 
death — the source from which an epitaph proceeds ; of 
death and life. To be born, and to die, are the two points 
in which all men feel themselves to be in absolute coin- 
cidence." — Wordsworth, 



IV. 

HINTS FOR SERMONS AND 
ADDRESSES. 



•' In the Scriptures he finds four things ; precepts for life, 
doctrines for knowledge, examples for illustration, and prom- 
ises for comfort : these he hath digested severally." 

George Herbert : "A Ffiest to the Temple.'' 



IV.— HINTS FOR SERMONS AND 
ADDRESSES. 

I. Death in Infancy. 

Jer. xxxi. 15-17. "Thus saith the Lord, A voice was 
heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping ; 
Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted 
for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the 
Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes 
from tears : for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the 
Lord ; and they shall come again from the land of the 
enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, 
that thy children shall come again to their own border." 

I. The human sense of loss. 2 The divine comfort. 
3. The reward of work. 4. The hope for the children. 

Matt. xix. 14. " But Jesus said, Suffer little children, 
and forbid them not, to come unto me ; for of such is 
the kingdom of heaven. 

I. "Redemption," says Mercein,"^ "placed the first 
child in its mother's arms." 2. The less we know of evil 
wisdom the easier it is to " come to Jesus. '^ 3. We are 
forbidden to forbid them. 4. Heaven is their happiest 
place ; the city is "full of boys and girls playing in the 
streets" (Zech. viii. 5). 

2 Kings iv. 26. '' Run now^, I pray thee, to meet her, 

■^ "Childhood and the Church," p. 19. 



no THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

and say unto her, Is it well with thee ? is it well with thy 
husband ? is it well with the child ? And she answered. 
It is well. ' ' 

"Whatever has been His will is well — grandly well — 
well even for that in me which feared, and in those very 
respects in which it feared that it might not be well. The 
whole being of me, past and present, shall say: it is in- 
finitely well, and 1 would not have it otherwise." — George 
MacDonald. 

This was : i. Death by a summer sickness. 2. A sud- 
den death. 3. The death of an only child. — The light of 
faith is brighter because of the rifted cloud through which 
it shines. 

Gen. xxi. 16. ''For she said, Let me not see the 
death of the child. ' ' 

Hagar, — The mother's struggle. i. It was her child. 

2. It was a child whom she hoped to see in a high station: 

3. The grief and disappointment over the impending 
death. [This is not the child of prayer and promise that 
Isaac was.] 

Sol. Song vi. 2. '' My beloved is gone down into his 
garden, . . . to gather lilies." 

I. How pure they are ! 2. Yet how easily they sully 
and fade ! 3. He who loves them gathers them soon. 

4. It is the Beloved and it is His garden. 

2 Sam. xii. 2^^. "But now he is dead, wherefore 
should I fast } can I bring him back again } I shall %o 
to him, but he shall not return to me.*' 

I. Persistent grief is always wrong, because it is useless. 
2. We shall go to the children. 3. We are led thus to think 
more of heaven, for it makes it more homelike to have 
the children there. 

21^^ David's sin was the scribe of his sorrow. His 
crime had a resurrection in his grief. Note : that we 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. ill 

may repent and be forgiven, but God does not intend 
that we should /^r^<?/ from what He saves us. 
Ps. Ixxxix. 45. "The days of his youth hast thou 
shortened. ' ' 

Many times we can see why the life was shortened. 
Again it is hard and perhaps impossible to do so. But, 
like the prelude to a symphony, we cannot complain when 
what comes after is so glorious. 

Zech. viii. 5. '^ And the streets of the city shall be full 
of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. ' ' 

The heavenly Jerusalem will be full of such gladness 
and freedom, i. In the other world children will have 
changed less, than those who are older and "further off 
from heaven." (Cf. Thomas Hood's poem, ** I remember, 
I remember.") 2. He who watched the children at their 
sports here (Matt. xi. 16 ; Lu. vii. 32) will not restrain 
their spirits there. 3. Nowadays the child dies "an hun- 
dred years old" (Jit. "lad," Is. Ixv. 20), through opportu- 
nities of knowledge which the ancients never had. 4. Let 
us be thankful that childlike children here (Mark x. 15) and 
hereafter (Rev. xii. 5) are heaven's own. 

Matt, xviii. 10. "Take heed that ye despise not one of 
these litde ones ; for I say unto you, That in heaven 
their angels do always behold the face of my Father which 
is in heaven. " 

A notable and neglected truth. The child is the true 
citizen of heaven (Lu. xviii. 17), and the pure in heart 
alone shall see God (Matt. v. 8). 

'* The lines of truth or error, seen from the hearth-side 
through that trustful eye, are the meridians and parallels 
which will map out all after-existence." — Mercein. 

Jonah iv. 7. ' ' But God prepared a worm when the 
morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it 
withered.'' 



112 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

I. He who planted can wither. 2. The least disease 
(a " worm") is to be dreaded, if we begin to forget Him. 
3. But see how God guided Jonah through this, for he was 
hard-hearted about the woe of others. 

Kisagotami's child died. She went to Buddha and 
asked help. He bade her bring him a handful of mustard- 
seed from a house where no death had occurred. But 
when, with her child on her hip, she went from house to 
house, death had always preceded her. Then she learned 
that sorrow came to others as well as to herself, and she 
buried the child in a wood. — Condensed from Max Mil Her s 
Translation. 

Job. xxix. 2-5. '' Oh that I were as in months past, as 
in the days when God preserved me ; when his candle 
shined upon my head, and when by his Hght I walked 
through darkness ; as I was in the days of my youth, 
when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle ; when 
the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were 
about me." 

Compare with this Job xlii. 10-17. Notice that as soon 
as the selfishness of sorrow passed away (v. 10, " When he 
prayed for his friends") God restored to him the joy of 
His presence. 

This is especially fit for those who do not lose children 
until middle-age. 

I Chron. vii. 22. " And Ephraim their father mourned 
many days, and his brethren came to comfort him." 

Truly " a brother is born for adversity." 
"Christ is the friend of the heart, its. needed friend, as 
certainly as He is the Saviour of the soul." — Dora Greenzaell. 

Joel i. 7. '' He hath laid my vine waste, and barked 
my fig tree : he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away ; 
the branches thereof are made white." 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. 113 

How many are the girdled trees that seem only to await 
their fall ! To strip the young twigs from the vine, and 
the young bark from the fig tree, is the analogy to the loss 
of children. 

Is. xl. II. ''He shall feed his flock like a shepherd : 
he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in 
his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with 
young. 

Very often by taking the lambs into his "upper fold," 
and thus laying up these treasures in heaven, he leads the 
parents there also. 

Is. xlix. 21. "I have lost my children, and am deso- 
late, a captive, and removing to and fro. ' ' 

Homes '' removed to and fro"; grief, making us deso- 
late and bringing us into captivity — these are the frequent 
results of the loss of children. 

*^ Cf. ElVs sons, ' In one day they shall die.' — i Sam. ii. 
34. Jeroboam's sojj, ' When thy feet enter the city, the 
child shall die.' — i Kings xiv. 12. The widow's son, 
' Art thou come to call my sin to remembrance and to slay 
my son?' — i Kings xvii. 18. T/ie Shimamite' s son, ' Sdii 
on her knee^ till noon and died.' — 2 Kings iv. 20. Job's 
children, 'The house fell, . . . and they are dead.' — 
Job i. 19. The Rider' s daughter, * My daughter is even 
now dead.' — Matt. ix. 18. The widow of Nain's son, 
* The Lord said, Weep not.' — Luke vii. 13." — Seed-Thought, 

II. In Early Life. 

I Sam. ii. i^^ 34. "And the man of thine, whom I 
shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume ■ 
thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart : and all the in- 
crease of thine house shall die in the flow^er of their age. 
And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon 



114 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas ; in one day they 
shall die, both of them.'' 

A dead grief is better thaa a living one. 

(Cf. Samuel's own children, i Sam. viii.) 

Luke vii. 11-13. ''And it came to pass the day after, 
that he went into a city called Nain ; and many of his 
disciples went with him, and much people. Now when 
he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a 
dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and 
she w^as a wddow : and much people of the city was with 
her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion 
on her, and said unto her, Weep not. 

The "only son of a widow." When we say, "Weep 
not," it is of little use. But when Christ says, "Weep 
not," the tears are dried. He, who had compassion on 
Mary at the cross, had compassion on this mother. 

*' We read that 'there came a fear on all,' at Nain, when 
the young man was raised. What then shall be the feelings 
of mankind, when all the dead are raised at ox\QQT—Ryle, 

Mark V. 23, 39. "And besought him greatly, saying, 
My little daughter lieth at the point of death : I pray thee, 
come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed ; 
and she shall live. . . . And when he was come in, . 
he saith unto them. Why make ye this ado, and weep .? 
the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. 

An only daughter, twelve years of age. Lit. "My dear 
little daughter." 

Gen. xxii. 12. " Now^ I know that thou fearest God, 
seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, 
from me." 

An only son, and his surrender a test of love to God. 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. 115 

Gen. xxxvii. 30. "And he returned unto his brethren, 
and said, The child is not ; and I, whither shall I go ?"' 

In bereavement we must turn somewhere, and where 

but to Him by whom we are smitten? He hath smitten, 

and He can heal. 

Gen. xxxvii. 34, 35. ''And Jacob rent his clothes, and 

put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son 

many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose 

up to comfort him ; but he refused to be comforted ; and 

he said, For I will go dow^n into the grave unto my son 

mourning. Thus his father w^ept for him." 

A persistent, resistant grief. We do not know what the 
grave is, but we would go there rather than be separated. 
But is this the remedy ? 

Gen. xlii. '^6. "And Jacob, their father, said unto 
them. Me have ye bereaved of my children ; Joseph is 
not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin 
away ; all these things are against me." 

Repeated bereavement, and Jacob's mistake. 
" It proved otherwise, that all these things were /<?r him, 
. . . yet here he thinks them all against him." — M.Henry. 

Gen. xliv. 20. ''And we said unto my lord. We have 
a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little 
one ; and his brother is dead, and he alone is ieft of his 
mother, and his father loveth him." 

A "child of old age." Note : the junction of Judah 
and Benjamin in later years. 

2 Sam. xiv. 7. ' ' So they shall quench my coal which 
is left." 

The last child of a household. — The woman of Tekoah^ 
sent by Joab to David. 

Ps. cii. 24. "I said, O my God, take me not away in 



Il6 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

the midst of my days : thy years are throughout all gen- 
erations. '' 

We prefer our " days" to God's "years"; the visible is 
more to us than the eternal. Note : this clinging to life 
may be either very noble or very base. We may desire to 
do more for God on earth, or we may love our pleasures 
too much to leave them. 

III. Death in the Family. 

Num. XX. I. ''Then came the children of Israel, even 
the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first 
month : and the people abode in Kadesh ; and ]\Iiriam 
died there and was buried there.'"' 

A sister.— 1. Miriam was Moses' watcher (Ex. ii. 4). 

2. The singer (and composer) of a sacred song (Ex. xv, 20). 

3. A leader among the women (Ex. xv. 20, 21). 4. Healed 
by the prayer of Moses (Num. xii. 13). 5. Respected by 
Israel (Num. xii. 15). 

2 Sam. xxi. 8-10. " But the king took the two sons of 
Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, 
Armoni and i\Iephibosheth ; and the five sons of Michal 
the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel, 
the son of Barzillai, the ]MehoIathite. And he delivered 
them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged 
them in the hill before the Lord : and they fellall seven 
together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in 
the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. And 
Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread 
it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest 
until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suf- 
fered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, 
nor the beasts of the field by night." 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. HJ 

The story of Rizpah is the most sorrowful of those 
records where the heart refuses to be comforted. It is the 
essence of maternal grief. 

2 Sam. xiii. 39. ''And the soul of king David longed 
to go forth unto Absalom : for he was comforted concern- 
ing Amnon, seeing he was dead." 

Better increasing care for the living, than unavailing sor- 
row for the dead. 

'* The cross v/hich had brought God nearer had made 
man more dear." — Doj-a Greenwell : " CoUoquia Crucis." 

I Kings xiv. 12-18. "Arise thou therefore, get thee to 
thine own house : and when thy feet enter into the city, the 
child shall die. And all Israel shall mourn for him and 
bury him : for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, 
because in him there is found some good thing toward the 
Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. Moreover 
the Lord shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall 
cut off the house of Jeroboam that day : but what ? even 
now. For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken 
in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good 
land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them 
beyond the river, because they have made their groves, 
provoking the Lord to anger. And he shall give Israel 
up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and 
who made Israel to sin. And Jeroboam's wife arose, and 
departed, and came to Tirzah : and when she came to the 
threshold of the door, the child died; and they buried 
him ; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the 
word of the Lord, which he spake by the hand of his ser- 
vant Ahijah the prophet.'' 

The child ren of wicked parents are, no doubt, often taken 
away from the evil to come. 



Il8 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

2 Sam. xviii. ^^. ''And the king was much moved, 
and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept : and 
as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom ! my son, 
my son Absalom ! would God I had died for thee, O 
Absalom, my son, my son !" 

"The chamber over the gate." (Longfellow.) So sad a 
death appeals very strongly to every heart in which a 
single fibre of affection is still left, to save a parent 
such overwhelming distress. 

(Cf. Is. xl. 6-8 ; Ps. cxix. 75, 92 ; Num. xi. 11.) 
Ruth i. 3, 5. '' And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; 
and she w^as left, and her two sons. . . . And 
Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them ; and the 
woman w^as left of her two sons and her husband. ' ' 

A husband and two sons. 

*' Ruth saw so much, upon ten years' trial, in Naomi, as 
was worth more than all Moab." — Bp. Hall. 

Joel i. 8. ''Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth 
for the husband of her youth."' 

The yoke of widovvhood in youth. 

Ezek. xxiv. 16, etc. "Son of man, behold, I take 
away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke : 
yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy 
tears run dow^n." 

The loss of a wife — but the command a special excep- 
tion to the ordinary course of natural grief. 

*' He who sees his wife die, has, as it were, been present 
at the destruction of the sanctuary itself." — Tabniid. 

Gen. xlviii. 7. "And as for me, when I came from 
Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaanin the 
way, w^hen yet there was but a little way to come unto 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS, 1I9 

Ephrath : and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath ; 
the same is Beth-lehem. " 

A beloved wife. Note : the tenderness of Jacob as 
to RacheL 

*'Isee in Rachel the image of her grandmother Sarah, 
both in her beauty of person, in her actions, in her suc- 
cess."—^/. HalL 

Gen. XXV. 8-10. ''Then Abraham gave up the ghost, 
and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of 
years ; and was gathered to his people. And his sons 
Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of ]\Iachpelah, 
in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, 
which is before ]\Iamre : the field which Abraham pur- 
chased of the sons of Heth : there was Abraham buried, 
and Sarah his wife. 

A good father in a good old age. 

"He lived 175 years ; just 100 years after he came to 
Canaan ; so long he was a sojourner in a strange country. 
Though he lived long, and lived w^ell, and could be ill- 
spared, yet he died at last." — M. Henry. 

Gen. XXXV. 29. "And Isaac gave up the ghost, and 
died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and 
full of da.ys : and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.'' 

Isaac and Ishmael bury Abraham ; Esau and Jacob 
bury Isaac ; Joseph and his brethren bury Jacob ; through 
strifes and dissensions the children of Israel bring the 
bones of Joseph to Canaan. In the presence of Death 
the divisions which existed in life pass aw^ay. The "val- 
ley of the shadow" should always be neutral ground. 

(jen. 1. 7-14. "'^And Joseph went up to bury his 
father ; and with him went up ail the servants of Pharaoh, 
the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of 
Egypt, and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, 



I20 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

and his father's house : only their httle ones, and their 
flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. 
And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen : 
and it was a very great company. And they came to the 
threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan ; and 
there they mourned with a great and very sore lamenta- 
tion : and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 
And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, 
saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said. This is 
a grievous mourning to the Egyptians : wherefore the 
name of it was called Abel-.mizraim, which is beyond 
Jordan. And his sons did unto him according as he 
commanded them : for his sons carried him into the land 
of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of 
JNIachpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a 
possession of a burying-place of Ephron the Hitdte, be- 
fore ]\Iamre. And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and 
his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his 
father, after he had buried his father. 

A revered father. 

" His funeral ceremonies were magnificent beyond a 
parallel in history, except perhaps in the case of Alexander 
the Great." — Bush. 
Ps. XXXV. 14. "I bowed down heavily, as one that 
mourneth for his mother. 

The death of a mother. The heavy " bowing down" that 
is caused by a mother's death. Heb. ''Squalid I bowed 
down," in allusion to the neglect caused by grief. 

Gen. xxiv. 67. ''And Isaac brought her into his 
mother Sarah' s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became 
his wife : and he loyed "her: and Isaac was comforted 
after his mother's death.'' 



. TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. I2I 

The first death in a family can be illustrated by that of 
Abel. Eve evidently mourns until the birth of Seth. 
Gen. iv. 25. 

Gen. XXXV. 8. " Bat Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, 
and she was buried beneath Beth-el under an oak ; and 
the name of it was called AUon-bachuth. " 

'' Allon-bachuth'' is "the oak of weeping" — a tribute to 
the faithfulness of Deborah. It reminds us of " Bochim/' 
**the weepers" (Judges ii. i, 5). Good servants are to be 
regarded as secondary children, and where this relation is 
well sustained, the loss is a heavy one indeed. 

2 Sam. i. 26. *'I am distressed for thee, mj brother 
Jonathan : very pleasant hast thou been unto me : thy 
love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women." 

A friend sometimes is as dear as a brother ; sometimes 
even dearer. Cf. Prov. xviii. 24, and especially Deut. 
xiii. 6. 

*' I hope I do not break the fifth commandment, if I con- 
ceive that I may love my friend before the nearest of m.y 
blood, even those to whom I owe the principles of life." 
— Sir Thomas Browne : "Rel. Medici." 

IV. In the Church. 
I. Ministers. 

Acts. vii. 60. ''And when he had said this, he fell 
asleep. 

Stephen — the first Martyr. Death in the cause of Christ 
worthy of all admiration. 

2 Chron. xxiv. 16. " And they buried him in the city 
of David among the kings, because he had done good in 
Israel, both toward God and toward his house." 

Jehoiada the priest — the counsellor of kings and pre- 



122 7^ HE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

server of the line of our Saviour's ancestry. A noble 
civil record for a man in a sacred calling. 

Heb. xi. 4. ''By faith Abel offered unto God a more 
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained wit- 
ness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts : 
and by it he being dead yet speaketh. ' ' 

I. When God has ** testified" of a holy man's *' gifts" 
we should acknowledge it. (Gal. i. 24.) 2. This is testi- 
mony to the ''more excellent way" which he chose. 3. 
By these *' works of faith and labors of love" '' he being 
dead yet speaketh." 

The souls whom he has helped to save ; the churches 
which he has helped to rear ; the brethren whom he has 
counselled ; the voices oi pen and pulpit— 2\\ speak. 

1 Kings xiii. 30. " And he laid his carcass in his own 
grave ; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my 
brother !" 

The lament of the old prophet over the young one. 
There is a regret which speaks at such a time — a feeling 
that the elder, by counsel and practice, has been respon- 
sible for the younger. What course did this life take be- 
cause of the one who utters the lamentation ? A^ote : that 
•this scripture contains— I. A warning. 2. A benevolence. 
3. A regret. 4. A self-reproach. 

Acts. viii. 2. ''And devout men carried Stephen to his 
burial, and made great lamentation over him.'' 

The burial of the good, by those who have been their 
associates, is most appropriate, i. They bore him to his 
grave. 2. They lamented him. It was a most repulsive 
and repugnant duty ; and to lament him required moral 
courage of a high order. 

2 Pet. i. 15. '' Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be 
able after my decease to have these things always in re- 
membrance. 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. 123 

"These things" are: i. Life through holy knowledge 
(v. 3). 2. Great and precious /r^;;2^j"^.^ (v. 4). 3. A /'<7r/^V2- 
patiori in the divine nature (v. 4). 4. Faith. 5. Virtue. 
6. Knozvledge. 7. Temperance. 8. Patience. 9. Godliness. 
10. Brotherly Kindness. 11. Charity. 12. Fruitfulness. 
This is Peter's ladder of life on which, round by round, he 
has himself climbed upward. N'ote : that "godliness" 
blossoms into the half-bloom of " brotherly kindness," and 
that into the full-blown flower of " charity." Then (and 
not till then) comes the " fruitfulness." 

Matt. xiv. 12. ''And his disciples came, and took up 
the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus." 

This was the headless body of John the Baptist. The 
progress of thought is natural and simple, i. They " came." 

2. They " took up the body" — giving it funeral rites. 

3. They •* buried it" — with honorable interment, mutilated 
as it was. 4. They 'went and told Jesus" — having done 
their work. 5. Jesus (see next verse) went apart from men 
"into a desert place." Why? 

Like John the Baptist the true minister — i. Preaches 
One greater than himself (Matt. iii. 11 ; Mark i. 7). 2. 
Announces salvation (Matt. iii. 11 ; Mark i. 4; Luke i. 
76-79 ; John i. 7 ; Acts i. 5 ; xiii. 24). 3. Refuses allegiance 
due to his Master (Matt. iii. 14 ; John i. 29). 4. Is bold 
to rebuke sin (Luke iii. 19). 5. Inquires of Jesus in time 
of doubt (Matt. xi. 2, 3 ; Luke vii. 18, 19). 6. Is honored 
by his Lord in life (Matt. xi. 11). 7. Is mourned at his 
death (Matt. xiv. 12, 13). 

His were plain clothing and plainer fare ; the constant 
labor of preaching ; perplexities with inquirers (Luke iii. 
10-18); continual self-abnegation; the hatred of a promi- 
nent family ; the imprisonment of harsh circumstances ; 
an untimely death. But all these leave his name untar- 
nished. 

Acts xiii. i(), '' For David, after he had served his own 



124 ^'^^^ BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was 
laid unto his fathers.'' 

We can serve another generation only through our own ; 
we can serve our own generation only by helping indi- 
viduals ; we can help individuals only by understanding 
ourselves ; we can understand ourselves only by the grace 
of God in Christ — who was '* tempted in all points like as 
we are." The figure in the Greek, involved in the word 
" served," is that of a rower in an ancient galley. 

2 Tim. iv. "], '^. ''I have fought a good fight, I have 
finished my course, I have kept the faith : henceforth 
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which 
the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day : 
and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his 
appearing. ' ' 

The victor crowned. 

•'St. Paul died; they d raggedy it may be, his corpse 
from the arena, and — sprinkling the white dust over the 
stains of his feeble blood — looked for a more interesting 
victim than the aged and nameless Jew ; St. John died we 
know not where or how, and no memorial marks his for- 
gotten tomb ; 3^et, to this day, over the greatest of modern 
cities towers the vast dome of the cathedral^'dedicated to 
the name of Paul ; and the shapeless mounds which once 
were Ephesus bear witness, in their name of Agiotzeologo, 
to no other fact than that they were trodden by the weary 
feet of him who saw the Apocalypse, and whose young 
head had rested on the bosom of his Lord/' — Fa^-rar : 
** Witness of History." 

(Cf. Deut. xxxiv. 5-8 ; i Sam. xxviii. 3 ; 2 Kings ii. 9, 
II, 12 ; Rom xiv. 7-9 ; Phil. i. 20, 21, 23 ; Prov. xi. 
30 ; Dan. xii. 3 ; John xvii. 24 : i Thess. v. 9-1 1.) 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. 125 

2. Me??ibers. 

Acts. xi. 24. " For he was a good man, and full of the 
Holy Ghost and of faith/' 

Barnabas. — Blessed is such a character in life and such 
an epitaph in death. 

**Ah! well might the Abbess Christina say of him 
[Tauler, the German mystic] that the Spirit of God dwelt 
within him. as a sweet harping." — Hours with the Alysiics, 

Ps. cxvi. 15. " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the 
death of his saints." 

" Precious" : Heb. " rare," like rubies and diamonds. 
God's saints are the jewels of earth — others are but pebbles. 
These he sorts and gathers for his treasure-house above. 
" The)^ that are wise shall shine" there. 

Ps. xxxvii. ^j. " ]\Iark the perfect man, and behold 
the upright : for the end of that man is peace. 

A man of integrity — teres atque rotiindus, rounded and 
complete. There has been no haste and no waste. Such 
souls are " pillar-fires, seen as we go." (Henry Vaughan.) 

Job xlii. 17. "So Job died, being old and full of 
days. ' ' 

" God's ichor fills the hearts that bleed ; 

The best fruit loads the broken bough ; 

And, in the wounds our sufferings plough, 
• Immortal love sows sovereign seed." 

— Gerald Massey. 

** Many are the aflflictions of the righteous, but the Lord 
delivereth him out of them all." Job's friends might have 
used this aptly as their friend's inscription. 

*' Full of days" — how expressive ! The cup of life could 
hold no more. 

Gen. xxvii. 2. '' And he said, Behold now, I am old, I 
know not the day of my death. 



126 THE BUHIAL OF THE DEAD. 

Isaac. — I. Death uncertain even to the old. 2. Death 
to be prepared for, because of age. 

'' A Christian should always have one eye upon his end, 
and the other eye upon his way." — Diviiie Breathings. 

Prov. xvi. 31. ^' The hoary head is a crown of glory if 
it be found in the way of righteousness/' 

"All things ripen, and righteousness also." — Te7'tiUlia7i. 

(Cf. Ps. Ixviii. 21.) 

Ps. Ixxxix. 47. "Remember how short my time is : 
wherefore hast thou made all men in vain V 

" Remember, as to me^ what is the age ? For what vanity 
hast thou created all the sons of man ?" So runs the literal 
version. It is the tolling of a funeral bell. For vanity or 
for victory — which ? 

Ps. Ixxxix. 48. " What man is he that liveth, and shall 
not see death } shall he deliver his soul from the hand of 
the grave T ' 

The question that needs no answer. There are no ex- 
ceptions. The Enochs and Elijahs walk among us no 
longer. — The remorseless grip of the grave. The skeleton 
hand that is extended over our feasts — as at the banquets 
of the Egyptians. How diflferent is the hand of God ! It 
is the hand of Life I 

2 Sam. xix. ^^6. " Thy serv^ant will go a little way over 
Jordan with the king." 

Barzillai, i.e., ''strong, iron." (Cf. 2 Sam. xix. 31, etc.; 
2 Sam. xvii. 27 ; i Kings ii. 7 ; Ezra ii. 61 ; Neh. vii. 63.) 
This was the noble ending of a peaceful, loyal, and loving 
life. Note: his great age; his care of the exiled king; 
his dislike *' to be a burden ;" his wish to be buried ** be- 
side his father and mother;" his readiness to ''go over 
Jordan" with the king. 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HTVTS. 127 

Gen. V. 24. ''And Enoch walked with God: and he 
was not ; for God took him."' 

How did the antediluvians and tne patriarchs get their 
clear knowledge of a future life? B}^ this case. — He dis- 
appeared from earth: God "took" him. God promises 
Abram that he will be his ''exceeding great reward" (Gen. 
XV. i). 

Gen. XV. 15. ''And thou shalt go to thy fathers in 
peace ; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.'' 

A lovely and pleasant life, like that of Jabez (i Chron. 
iv. 10), and a good old age at which to die, like Barzillai 
(2 Sam. xix.). 

Is. xlvi. 4. " And even to your old age I am he ; and 
even to hoar hairs will I carry you : I have made, and I 
will bear ; even I will carry, and will deliver you." 

Old age not forsaken of God. 

" O welcome service and ever to be desired, in which we 
are rewarded with the Greatest Good, and attain to joy 
which shall endlessly remain with us. " — Thomas a Kenipis. 

Is. xxxiii. 17. ''Thine eyes shall see the King in his 
beauty ; they shall behold the land that is very far off."' 

Death anticipated. The shepherds on the hill called 
" Clear" in *' Pilgrim's Progress," who showed Christian 
the city through their *' perspective glass." — i. The King : 
" in his beauty." 2. The Land : " that is very far off." 

Prov. xiv. 32. "The wicked is driven away in his 
wickedness : but the righteous hath hope in his death. ' ' 

The Christian alone has a definite knowledge of the 
** words of eternal life" (John vi. 68). We are saved by 
hope, and death to the Christian is the dark gate of 
glory, 

** Wherfor whensoever it chaunseth the my frende, to 



128 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

haue the tastynge of thys death, that thou shalte be temted 
wyth thys horror of deathe what is to be done then ? when- 
soever thou felest thy soule heauy to death, make haste, 
and resorte to this gardaine (cf. Matt. xxvi. 36), and with 
thys faith thou shalt ouercome thys terrour when it com- 
meth." — Bp. Hugh Latimer. 

Is. xxxii. 17. ''And the work of righteousness shall 
be peace ; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and 
assurance forever. 

*' I should have thought mowers very idle people ; but 
they work while they whet their scythes. Now devoted ness 
to God, whether it mows or whets the scythe, still goes on 
with the work." — y. Newton, in Cecil's " Life.'" 

David says, " My heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.'* 
For the idea of " sarlctuary" cf. Ps. xc. i ; xci. 9; Is. 
ix. 14; Hos. xiv. 5-7; Deut. xxxiii. ; Ruth ii. 12; Deut. 
xxxii. II. It is most frequent in the Psalms. See xvii. 
8, Ivii. I, Ixi. 4, xlvi. i, xxvii. 5, xxxi. 20, Ixiii. 7, Ixii. 7, 
etc. 

Is. Ivii. I, 2. "The righteous perisheth, and no man 
layeth it to heart : and merciful men are taken away, 
none considering that the righteous is taken away from 
the evil to come. He shall enter into peace/' 

The death of good men is not only a heavy loss to a 
community, but often a most significant warning, i. The 
indifference of the world. 2. The possible threatening 
evil, which is avoided by the righteous, and experienced 
by the wicked. 3. The quiet port, to which the righteous 
escapes from the storm. 21^^ Ps. cxxvii. 2. 

Luke ii. 29, 30. '' Lord, now lettest thy servant depart 
in peace, according to thy word : for mine eyes have 
seen thy salvation." 

Truly *' the desire accomplished is sweet to the soul,^' and 
when it cometh it is " a tree of life " (Prov. xiii. 12, 19). This 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. 129 

/s old Simeon, who has taken the child Jesus into his 
arms. So when a good person has received the simplicity 
of religious truth, he is always ready to sing his " nunc 
dimittis!' lie is always prepared to go. 

Acts ix. ^(), 37. ''Now there was at Joppa a certain 
disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called 
Dorcas : this woman was full of good works and alms- 
deeds which she did. And it came to pass in those 
days, that she was sick, and died." 

Death in the midst of usefulness. A good woman, 
renowned for benevolence. Both Tabitha and Dorcas 
mean "a roe-deer," a "gazelle." The gracefulness of 
goodness. It is a word frequently employed. Cf. Sol. Song 
ii. 7-9. N'otg : I. Dorcas was a great help in the church. 
2. She added "alms-deeds" to "good works," mercy to 
truth. 3. She was greatly missed and lamented. 4. Such 
an one should have her resurrection, in the lives and work 
of others. — And Peter was sent for to attend the funeral, 
V. 38. 

Amos viii. 9. ' ' And it shall come to pass in that day, 
saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down 
at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day." 

In the midst of life. 

" Unhappy if we are but Half-men, m whom that divine 
handwriting has never blazed forth, all-subduing, in true 
sun-splendour ; but quivers dubiously among meaner 
lights : or smoulders in dull pain, in darkness, under 
earthly vapours \''—CarIyIe : " Sartor Resartus." 

Num. xxiii. 10. ''Let me die the death of the right- 
eous, and let my last end be like his 1" 

Balaam to Balak, after blessing Israel. The death-bed 
of the good is envied by — i. The impenitent ; 2. The con- 
science-stricken ; 3. The moralist ; 4. The honest inquirer 



I30 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

after truth. — Balaam's character ; these words wrung out 
of him ; a confession in spite of his hostilit3\ Especially 
see and note his false position as an advocate of a bad 
cause, which he is convinced must fail. Note :■ that if 
we would die the death of the righteous, we must live his 
life. 

J. Gejieral, 

Ps. Iv. 2 2. '' Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he 
shall sustain thee : he shall never suffer the righteous to 
be moved.'' 

Christ's language, ** Come unto me, ye that labor and 
are heav\^ laden." When additional weight is put into a 
building it needs additional supports. Truths like this 
are columnar. They are promises upon which we may 
rely freely and often. Not be moved : any more than a 
tree with deep and wide roots. Each particular burden 
may thus be "rolled'' on the Lord. Cf. Ps. xxxvii. 5 ; 
Prov. xvi. 3; and Ps. xxii. 8 (margin, "rolled himself*). 

Ps. xlviii. 14. " For this God is our God ^forever and 
ever : he will be our guide even unto death." 

The journey ended and the guide dismissed. We no 
longer need explanations and assistance. Henceforth 
and forever he is not our guide, but our God. Not any 
longer our sun and sliield, but our "exceeding great 
reward." 

Gen. xxiii. 4. '' That I may bury my dead out of my 
sight." 

Our comfort is in laying them away to rest. Keeping 
the spiritual and abandoning the perishable. 

" Burying-places were, as a rule, outside the cities — 
commonly at no less a distance than fifty cubits. In Jeru- 
salem no dead body v/as allowed to remain over night. 
The favorite localities for burying were rocky places and 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS, 131 

caves. Sepulchres were also prepared in gardens. Two 
bodies were not laid in the same niche, except those of a 
daughter with her father, or of a son with his mother. 
. . . After the final scattering of Israel, the desire to be 
buried in the soil of Palestine became so intense that it 
used to be said, ' He that rests in Palestine is as if he were 
buried under the altar.' " — Dr. Edtrsheim, hi '"Bible Edu- 
cator. " 

Gen. V. " And he died.'' 

The knell that sounds throughout these chapters, in 
spite of the centuries of each antediluvian life. 

At Saladin's banquet to Richard Coeur de Lion was dis- 
played a lance, bearing a shroud, v/ith this inscription^ 
'' Saladin, King of Kings — Saladin, Victor of Victors — 
Saladin must Die." 

2 Tim. i. 10. "Our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath 
abolished death.'' 

"Abolished": Gr. *' made thoroughly inactive." He 
has taken away the sting. The New Testament uses 
thanatos {-^dvaroS) for " death" except in Matt. ii. 15, and 
nearly always with an implied idea of penalty. Zo7^d 
Bacon: ''Men fear death as children fear the dark." 
Christ comes to destroy the works of the devil, of which 
Death is the chief. Cre?ners Lexicon : "Death is . . . 
a comprehensive term denoting all the primitive conse- 
quences of sin .'"^ {Sub voce -ddvaroS.) 

Gen. XXV. 17. " And was gathered unto his people. 

His people ! Abiit ad majores — over to the majority on 
the other side, his ancestors, his own true kinsfolk. 
Where shall we find "our people" except in the King's 
countr}^? 

V. In the State. ' 

I. A Ruler. 

Is. iii. I, 2, 3. ''For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of 



132 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

hosts, doth take asvay from Jerusalem and from Judah 
the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the 
whole stay of water, the mighty man, and the man of 
war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and 
the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honorable 
man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and 
the eloquent orator/' 

[Circumstances must govern, of course, in the particu- 
lar application of these texts.] 

2 Sam. iii. 38. ''Know ye not that there is a prince 
and a great man fallen this day in Israel?" 

Generous recognition at death of virtues possessed in 
life. [See the admirable series of funeral orations and 
eulogies pronounced in Washington, D. C, on such occa- 
sions.] 

Job xxiv. 2 2. '' He draweth also the mighty with his 
power : he riseth up, and no man is sure of life. 

Job xxiv. 24. " They are exalted for a little while, but 
are gone and brought low ; they are taken out of the 
w^ay as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of 
corn. 

2 Chron. xxxii. '^'^. ''And Hezekiah slept with his 
fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepul- 
chres of the sons of David : and all Judah and the in- 
habitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death/' 

He was : i. A reformer. 2. A man of public spirit. 3. 
A person of great heartiness (2 Chron. xxxi. 21). 4. A 
successful man. All this aside from his piety. It is right 
to honor good or great men at their death. We honor 
virtue itself when we honor its illustrations. 

2. A public man. 

2 Chron. xxxv. 24, 25. "iVnd all Judah and Jerusa- 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. 133 

lem mourned for Josiah. x\nd Jeremiah lamented for 
Josiah ; and all the singing men and the singing women 
spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and 
made them an ordinance in Israel : and, behold, they 
are written in the lamentations." 

2 Sam. iii. 2>3, 34. ''And the king lamented over Ab- 
ner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth ? Thy hands 
were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters : as a 
man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. And all 
the people wept again over him. 

Ps. Ixxxii. 6, J. ''I have said, Ye are gods; but ye 
shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.'"' 

Ezek. xix. 11, 12. "And she had strong rods for the 
sceptres of them that bare rule, alid her stature was ex- 
alted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her 
height with the multitude of her branches. But she was 
plucked up in fury, she was cast down to ihe ground, and 
the east wind dried up her fruit : her strong rods were 
broken and withered ; the fire consumed them.'' 
The death of good rulers is a great affliction. 

Jer. xli. 2. '' Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, 
and the ten men that were with him, and smote Gedaliah 
the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, 
and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made gov- 
ernor over the land. 

Death by assassination. Cf. Eglon, Judges iii. 20. 

Is. xl. 23. '' That bringeth the princes to nothing ; he 
maketh the judges of the earth as vanity." 

VI. Miscellaneous Topics and Hints. 

Ps. xxxvi, 9. " For with thee is the fountain of life : in 
thy light shall we see light. 



134 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

God, the author of life and the fountain of life. Not 
light beyond only, but light here. In His light : not in 
philosophy, nor in occupation, nor in amusement, nor in 
unavailing regret, nor in fancies that we have communica- 
tion with the departed, but in the true consolations of re- 
ligion. "And the Life was the Light of men" (John i. 4). 

Ps. xlvi. I. '' God is our refuge and strength, a very 
present help in trouble." 

"A help to be greatly found in distresses" is the literal 
version. A centre in which to come to rest, a-s from cen- 
trifugal force ; a centre from which to begin anew, as from 
centripetal force. The tendency in grief is to expend it- 
self in action, or to shut itself away in contemplation. 
This avoids both extremes. 

Ps. xlix. 4. ''I win incline mine ear to a parable : I 
will open my dark saying upon the harp." 

The story of death is indeed a '' dark saying." Let us 
treat it — i. By way of parable : in showing its resem- 
blances and analogies of instruction. 2. By way of har- 
mony : in reducing its disorder to melody, if we can. 

Ps. xxxix. 4. '' Lord,- make me to know mine end, 
and the measure of my days, what it is ; that I may know 
how frail I am." 

Ps liter: *' That I maybe certified how long I have to 
live." Marginal reading : *'What time I have here." 
Sepiuagint : "That I may know what comes afterward." 
M. Henry : " Lord, give me wisdom and grace to con- . 
sider it (Deut. xxxii. 29), and to improve what I know 
concerning it." Jam. Fauss. and Brown : *' Lit. * when I 
shall cease.' " A.Bonar: "A pilgrim-spirit, one journeying 
through a world of vanity and praying at every step to be 
taught and kept in the will of God." Hebrew : **I will 
know how leaving off I am." The text suggests : i. The 
shortness of life. 2. The im.portance of right opinions. 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. 135 

3. The help into trust upon God, which comes from the 
consideration of our own weakness and inevitable fate. 

Matt. ii. 15. "And was there until the death of 
Herod." 

The word here for death is *' end." It was the close of 
Herod's hopes and power. There was nothing afterward. 
His life was simply an obstruction. 

Ps. Iv. 19. ''Because they have no changes, therefore 
they fear not God." 

It is an unfortunate matter to have an easy and prosper- 
ous and sheltered life, in such a view as this. The soul 
requires to be shaken out of its security. Note : the 
blessings of the unconverted are often a final source of 
doubt and of regret. How much have they understood 
them ? and valued them ? 

Ps. cvii. 43. "Whoso is wise, and will observe these 
things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of 
the Lord." 

Notice the construction of the Psalm. The chorus is : 
'* O that men would praise the Lord/' etc. The anti- 
chorus is : " Then they cried unto the Lord," etc i. The 
" redeemed of the Lord" are here instructed. 2. So are 
"fools," i.e. the thoughtless and ignorant and foolish. 3. 
So are " they that go down to the sea in ships." 4. So are 
the tillers of the land. The text is the sum of all these 
things, a message to Christians, to the impenitent, and to 
the toilers by sea and by land. 

Ps. Ixxiii. 3, 4. "For I was envious at the foolish, 
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are 
no bands in their death : but their strength is firm." 

''•Then understood I their end"; " How are they brought 
into desolation as ifi a moment" ; " They are utterly con- 
sumed with terrors." To be used, not by way of sever- 
ity, but by contrast with the Christian, " Bands," i.e. pains 



136 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

— the idea being that the wicked often have an easier phys- 
ical death than the righteous. We should covet, not the 
temporary, but the eternal riches. 

Mark ix. 10. ''And they kept that saying with them- 
selves, questioning one with another what the rising from 
the dead should mean." 

This was after the Transfiguration, i. The " saying" was 
that the Son of Man should rise from the dead. 2. Moses 
(whom God buried, Deut. xxxiv. 6 ; Jude 9) and Elijah 
iwhom God translated, 2 Kings ii. 11) appear and talk with 
Jesus, coming there from heaven, as did the voice (2 Pet. 
i. 16-18). 

VII. Peculiar and Special Cases. 

I. Suicide. 

Job X. I. " My soul is weary of my life." 

Contrast this with Paul : ''Who shall deliver me from 
the body of this death ?" and Christ : " My soul is exceed- 
ing sorrowful even unto death." 'To learn to say *'Thy 
will be done" puts the possibility of suicide entirely away. 

Cf. Ecc. ii. 17 ; iv. 2, 3. 

Job iii. 20-22. " Wherefore is hght given to him that 
is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul ; which long 
for death, but it cometh not ; and dig for it more than for 
hid treasures ; which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, 
when they can find the grave V ' 

This is the old problem of existence. To cut the Gor- 
dian knot is not to untie it. The seatfnel must remain at 
his post until relieved. 

*' In every man's life come awful moments when he must 
meet his fate — ' dree his weird ' — alone. Alone, I say, 
if he have no God — for man or woman cannot aid him, 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. 137 

cannot touch him, cannot come near him." — George Mac- 
Donald, 
Num. xi. 15. ''And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, 
I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favor in thy 
sight ; and let me not see my wretchedness/' 

And this was Moses ! 

"What a battle-giound is the soul of man! We are 
given up to those gods^ those monsters, those giants — our 
thoughts. Often these terrible belligerents trample our 
very souls down in their mad cowfixziy — Victor Htigo. 

Job vii. 15, 16. ''So that my soul chooseth strangling, 
and death rather than my life. I loathe it ; I would not 
live alvvay : let me alone ; for my days are vanity." 

Death desired, through utter weariness. Cf. Rev. ix. 6 ; 
Jonah iv. 3, 8. 

Jer. XX. 18. "Wherefore came I forth out of the womb 
to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed 
with shame V ' 

There will be present at the funeral of a suicide — i. The 
" shamed" ones. 2. The curious ones. 3. The scoffers 
and skeptics. 4. The perplexed Christians. Their ques- 
tions will be the same thought put in different shapes, and 
this text will serve as a focus into which to collect them. 

(Cf. Ahithophel^ 2 Sam. xvii. 23 ': yiidas, Matt, xxvii. 5 ; 
Saul^ I Sam. xxxi. and i Chron. x. ; Hainan, Esth. vii. 10 ; 
Samscfi, Judges xvi. 29, 30.) 

2. A fallen woman. 

2 Kings ix. 34. " Bury her : for she is a king's daugh- 
ter. ' ' 

I. We are not to refuse to perform such a funeral service. 

2. We are to remember that she was " a king's daughter." 

3. For the sake of what she was we must " take up ten- 
derly" what she is. 



138 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

This is the key note of Hood's '* Bridge of Sighs." 
(^^* To take texts or themes for such occasions after the 

fashion of the old divines (see Mather's ''Magnalia") is 

neither wise nor right. 

Is. xlvii. 7, 8. ''And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for- 
ever : so that thou didst not lay these things to thy^eart, 
neither didst remember the latter end oi it. Therefore 
hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest 
carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else 
besides me ; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I 
know the loss of children. 

The "social evil" involves the serious fact that many 
are elevated by it from poverty and loneliness, into a 
transient wealth and to the centre of admiration. They 
say, (i) " We shall be ladies always." They forget (2) the 
" latter end" of it all. They sometimes (3) refuse wifehood 
and motherhood. But (4) there is an end to it all. (5) 
That end comes very soon, ordinarily within three or five 
3-ears. 

John viii. 7. ^' So when they continued asking him, he 
lifted up himself, and said unto them. He that is without 
sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." 

"John vii. 53 to viii. 11 is the second and most extended 
omission [in the Revised New Testament] from John's 
Gospel. It is omitted by the Sinaitic, the Alexandrine, 
the Vatican, the older Parisian, and four later uncials, 
and by cursive 33; but in the Alexandrine and older 
Parisian and two of the later uncials — that is, in, half of the 
uncials which omit the passage — there is a blank space, in- 
dicating that something is omitted ; the text being erased 
or its copying deferred. It is found in the Cambridge, D, 
and other uncials, in the cursives generally, in the Lat. 
Vulgate, as it is in the * Koine Ekdosis ' of the Greek 
Church ; while Greek and Latin fathers, cited bv Poole 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. 139 

and Tregelles, refer to the omitted narrative as found in 
John's Gospel. It is omitted as spurious by Tregelles ; 
and it is put in brackets by the English revisers." — Dr. G. 
W. Samson : '' Revisers' Text Unauthorized." 

Shall the servant of Christ avoid the responsibility of a 
sermon to men on such an occasion ? 

John viii. 11. '' iVnd Jesus said unto her, Neither do I 
condemn thee : go, and sin no more.'' 

This, for one who has died repentant. Compare Jos. 
vi. 17 (with Heb. xi. 31 and Jas. ii. 25) ; Matt. xxi. 31, 32 ; 
Luke vii. 37. 

J. Cases of long sickness, pam, and iveariJtess, 

Job iii. 22. " Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, 
when they can find the grave. ' ' 

Death long desired and welcome. *' I go out of life," 
said Cicero, " as from an inn and not from a home." 

Job iii. 17. '' There the wicked cease from troubling ; 
and there the weary be at rest." 

Rest: I. From the perplexities and trials of life. 2. 
From its burden and its toil, 3. From its longing and 
its fatigue. 

Is. xxxiii. 24. ''And the inhabitant shall not say, I am 
sick : the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their 
iniquity." 

What aland ! No sickness ; no sorrow; no sin. The 
"inhabitant": i7i?<^. " neighbour." Th.Q neighbourliness oi 
the other world. 

4. Death by casualties. 

2 Sam. ii. 23. " Howbeit he refused to turn aside : 
wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear smote 
him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind 
him ; and he fell down there,' and died in the same place ; 



I40 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

and it came to pass, that as many as came to the place 
where Asahel fell down and died stood still/'* ^ 

The unexpected '^ hinder end" of the spear smote Asahel. 
Cf. 2 Kings ix. 24. 

Also I Kings xxii. 34 (with- 2 Chron. xviii. 33), the 
bow '' drawn at a venture." 

Judges ix. 53. '' Anda certain woman cast a piece of 
a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to brake his 
skull." 

" All to" is an abbreviated form of " altogether." 

Lev. X. 5. ''So they w^ent near, and carried them in 
their coats out of the camp ; as Moses had said.'' 

These were Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron. They 
were burned to ashes and gathered up from the flame. 

Luke xiii. 4. ''Or those eighteen, upon whom the 
tower of Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they 
were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem .^ 

(Cf. I Kings XX. 30; Job i. 19.) 

Men cannot be too careful how they undertake to inter- 
pret "judgments," lest one day they be measured out of 
their own bushel and fall short. 

2 Sam. XX. 12, 13. "And Amasa wallowed in blood 
in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw 
that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of 
the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, 
when he saw that every one that came by him stood still. 
When he was removed out of the highsvay, all the people 
wxnt on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of 
Bichri.'' 

" So strong in human hearts the thought of death," and 
therefore the wisdom of cgnnecting with every death some 
gospel truth. 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. 141 

5. Sudden Death, 

I Sam. XX. 3. ''And David sware moreover, and said, 
Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in 
thine eyes ; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, 
lest he be grieved : but truly, as the Lord liveth, and as 
thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death. ' ' 

Nearness of death. 

" We term sleep a death, and yet it is waking that kills 
us and destroys those spirits that are the house of life." — 
Sir Thomas Bi'owne. 

1 Sam. iv. 15, 18. ''Now Eli was ninety and eight 
years old ; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see. 

And it came to pass, when he made mention of 
the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by 
the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died : for 
he was an old man, and heavy.'' 

Death from a broken heart. 

" The good old man, after ninety and eight years, sits in 
the gate, as one that never thought himself too aged to do 
God's service. . . . No sword of a Philistine could 
have slain him more painfully, neither know I whether his 
neck or his heart were first broken." — Bp. Hall. 

Prov. xxvii. i. "Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for 
thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.'"' 

'* O that we had spent but one day in this world thorough- 
ly well !'* — Thomas a Kempis. 

(Cf. Jas. iv. 13, 14 ; Ecc. ix. 10, 12 ; Ps. xxxix. 4 and 
xc. 12 ; Heb. ii. 15.) 

2 Cor. V. 10. "We must all appear before the judg- 
ment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things 
done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether 
it be good or bad.'' 



142 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 

Death a summons to judgment. 

" If / am not for me, who shall? — If I am 07ily for me, 
what am I? — And if not now, when?'' — Attributed to 
R. Hillel. 

Ecc. xii. 13, 14. ''Let us hear the conclusion of the 
whole matter ; Fear God, and keep his commandments : 
for this is the whole duty of man. P'or God shall bring 
every work into judgment, with every secret thing, 
whether it be good, or whether it be evil.'' 

" The expression in the original — ' This is the whole of 
man,' — has not, that I am aware of, any parallels by which 
it might be illustrated. The supplement of the word duty 
destroys its evidently designed comprehensiveness. It is 
not only the whole duty, but the whole honor, and interest, 
and happiness of man." — Wardlaw. 

6. Fo)' those who have beeii ?jmch afflicted. 

Ps. Ixxi. 20. ''Thou which hast showed me great and 
sore troubles, shalt quicken me again and shalt bring me 
up again from the depths of the earth.'' 

Rev. vii. 14." " These are they which came out of great 
tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them 
white in the blood of the Lamb. 

Matt. xi. 6. "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be 
offended in me. " 

7. Death in child-bed. 

Rachel. Gen. xxxv. 16. Phinehas wife, i Sam. iv. 19. 

8. A sailo?' ' s death. 

Ps. Iv. 8. "I would hasten my escape from the windy 
storm and tempest. 

Ps. cvii. 29, 30. "He maketh the storm a calm, so 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. 143 

that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad 
because they be quiet : so he bringeth them unto their 
desired haven/' 

Rev. XX . 1 3 , ^ ' And the sea gave up the dead which 
were in it/' 

p. A rich man. 

Ps. xlix. 6, 7. ''They that trust in their wealth, and 
boast themselves in the multitude of their riches ; none 
of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give 
to God a ransom for him." 

Job xxix. 18. "Then I said, I shall die in my nest, 
and I shall multiply my days as the sand." 

Luke xii. 20. " But God said unto him, Thou fool, 
this night thy soul shall be required of thee : then whose 
shall those things be which thou hast provided .?'" 

"Man," says the Talmud, "'is born with his hands 
clenched, he dies with his hands wide open. Entering 
life, he desires to grasp everything; leaving the world, all 
that he possessed has slipped away." 

10. A poor man, 

Luke xvi. 22. ''And it came to pass, that the beggar 
died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's 
bosom/' 

11. A repeniajit criminal. 

Luke xxiii. 43. "And Jesus said unto him. Verily I 
say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in para- 
dise. ' ' 

12. A careless person. 

Job xiv. 10. " But man dieth and wasteth away : yea, 
man giveth up the ghost and where is he T' 



144 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

I J, A zvitty man. 

Ecc. vii. 3. ''Sorrow is better than laughter: for by 
the sadness of the countenance the heart is made 
better." 
14. A fearsome death. 

Job iv. 15. ''Then a spirit passed before my face; 
the hair of my flesh stood up/' 
i^. A ' ' spoj'tmg man. 

Job ix. 25. " My days are swifter than a post/' 

Rev. vi. 8. " And I looted, and behold a pale horse : 
and his name that sat on him was Death/"' 

Prov. xvi. '^'^. "The lot is cast into the lap, but the 
whole disposing thereof is of the Lord/' 
16. For a lime of pestilejice. 

Lam. ii. 21. "The young and the old lie on the 
ground in the streets : my virgins and my young men 
are fallen by the sword ; thou hast slain them in the day 
of thine anger ; thou hast killed, and not pitied/' 
Cf. Ex. xii. 30. 

VIIL The Burial of Our Lord. 

[Condensed from Townsend's Arrangement of the New Tes- 
tament.] 

iVnd after this, when the even was come, because it 

was the Preparation (that is the day before the Sabbath), 

there came a rich man of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews, 

named Joseph, an honorable counsellor ; and he was a 

good man, and a just ; who also himself waited for the 

Kingdom of God ; being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, 

for fear of the Jews (the same had not consented to the 

counsel and deed of them) ; this man came, and went in 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. 145 

boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus : and 
besought Pilate, that he might take away the body of 
Jesus. 

And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead ; and 
calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he 
had been any while dead ? And when he knew^ it of the 
centurion, Pilate gave him leave ; and commanded the 
body to be delivered to Joseph. 

And he bought fine linen, and he came, therefore, and 
look the body of Jesus. And when Joseph had taken 
the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth ; and there 
came also Nicodemus (which at the first came to Jesus by 
night), and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 
a hundred pound weight. 

Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in 
clean linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the 
Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was cruci- 
fied there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepul- 
chre, and [Joseph] laid the body in [this] his own new 
tomb which he had hewn out in the rock, w^herein was 
never man yet laid. And he rolled a great stone to the 
door of the sepulchre, and departed. 

And Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses, 
beheld where he was laid. And the women also which 
came wdth him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld 
the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they 
returned, and prepared spices and ointments ; and rested 
the Sabbath day, according to the commandment. 

In the end of the Sabbath, very early in the m.orning, 
the first day of the week, while it was yet dark, as it began 
to dawn came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary unto 
the sepulchre. 



146 thb: burial of the dead. 

And behold ! there had been a great earthquake ; for 
the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came 
and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it 
His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as 
snow, and for fear of him the keepers did shake and be- 
came as dead men. And many bodies of the saints 
which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his 
resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared 
unto many. 

And [the women] said among themselves, at the rising 
of the sun, ' ' Who shall roll us away the stone from the 
door of the sepulchre .?" for it was very great. And when 
they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away 
from the sepulchre. 

And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young 
man sitting on the right side clothed in a long white gar- 
ment ; and they were affrighted. [But] the angel an- 
swered and said unto the women, ' ' Fear not ye ; for I 
know that ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was cruci- 
fied ; he is not here ; for he is risen. 

And they went out quickly from the sepulchre, with 
fear ; neither said they anything to any man, [but] with 
great joy. did run to bring his disciples word. 

Peter therefore went forth and that other disciple, and 
came to the sepulchre. So they both ran together ; and 
the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the 
sepulchre. And he stooping down and looking in saw 
the linen clothes lying ; yet went not in. Then cometh 
Simon Peter following him and went into the sepulchre 
and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin that was 
about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but 
wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also 



TEXTS, TOPICS, A. YD HINTS. 147 

that other disciple and he saw and believed ; for as vet 
they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from 
the dead. 

Then the disciples went away again unto their own 
home. 

But Mary stood without, at the sepulchre, weeping. 

IX. The Resurrection, in Christ's Own Words 
(from John). 

John xiv. 1-3. " Let not your heart be troubled : ye 
believe in God, believe also in me. In my FatheVs 
house are many mansions ; if it were not so, I would 
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. x\nd if 
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and 
receive you unto myself ; that where I am, there ye may 
be also. ' ' 

John xi. 25, 26. " I am the resurrection and the life : 
he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall 
he live : and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall 
never die.'' 

John V. 25. ''Verily, verily, I say unto you, The 
hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear 
the voice of the Son of God : and they that hear shall 
live. 

John V. 28, 29. '' Marvel not at this : for the hour is 
coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear 
his voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done 
good, unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have 
done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." 

John vi. 40. ''And this is the will of him that sent 
me, that everv one w^hich seeth the Son, and believeth on 



14^ THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

him, may have everlasting hfe : and I will raise him up 
at the last day/' 

John vi. 51. ''I am the living bread which came down 
from heaven : if any man eat of this bread, he shall live 
forever : and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which 
1 will give for the life of the world." 

John vi. 58. "This is that bread which came down 
from heaven : not as your fathers did eat manna, and are 
dead : he that eateth of this bread shall live forever.'"' 

John xvi. ^'^. " These things I have spoken unto you, 
that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall 
have tribulation : but be of good cheer ; I have over- 
come the world. 

X. Heaven. 

Rev. vii. 9-17. ''After this I beheld, and, lo, a great 
multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, 
and kindreds, a'nd people, and tongues, stood before the 
throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, 
and palms in their hands ; and cried with a loud voice, 
saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood 
round about the throne, and about the elders and the 
four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and 
worshipped God, saying. Amen : Blessing, and glory, 
and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, 
and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. 
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me. What 
are these which are arrayed in white robes ? and whence 
came they ? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. 
And he said to me, These are they which came out of 



TEXTS, TOPICS, AND HINTS. 149 

great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are 
they before the throne of God, and serve him day and 
night in his temple : and he that sitteth on the throne 
shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, 
neither thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light on 
them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the 
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them 
unto living fountains of waters : and God shall wipe away 
all tears from their eyes. 

XL At the Grave. * 

(z. ) From the Service of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 

^ Then, while the earth shall be cast upon the Body by 
some standing by, the Minister shall say: 

'' Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God, in His 
wise providence, to take out of this world the soul of our 
deceased brother^ we therefore commit his body to the 
ground ; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust : 
looking for the general resurrection in the last day, and 
the life of the w^orld to come, through our Lord Jesus 
Christ ; at whose second coming in glorious majesty to 
judge the world, the earth and the sea shall give up their 
dead ; and the corruptible bodies of those who sleep in 
Him shall be changed, and made like unto His own glori- 
ous body ; according to the mightv working whereby He 
is able to subdue all things unto Himself." 

(2.) A Form of Committal to the Earth. 

It is written, '' Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt 

^ In case of burial in a vault or tomb, the words, " this recep- 
tacle prepared for the dead/' may be substituted for '* earth "or 
"ground." 



ISO THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

return.'* And we know that soon or late we too must go 
the way of all the earth. But we believe in One who hath 
abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to 
light through the gospel. In the name of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ, we therefore commit this body to the 
ground ; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust : trust- 
ing to find in Him our comfort in this life, and in the 
world to come life everlasting. 

And to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one 
God, shall be praise evermore. Amen ! 

(j. ) Another Form of Committal. 

We have come here to lay our dead out of our sight. 
But we sorrow not as those who have no hope. In the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost, we commit all that is mortal of this our brother to 
the earth whence he came : earth to earth, ashes to ashes, 
dust to dust. And to Him who sitteth on high, in whose 
hand are the keys of death and hell, we look for that 
resurrection of the body whereof He was the first-fruits 
from the dead. 

XII. Benediction. 

' ' Now the God of peace, that brought again from the 
dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 
through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make 
you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in 
you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus 
Christ ; t-o whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." 



If 



